**LOVE TO COLOUR?** Colouring with Cats #113 ~ Getting Your OM’s on with Mandalas on Mondays **PLUS** **Your Crystal Questions Answered** How To Cleanse Crystals, And Pandora Shows Off The Crystal of the Week ~ Citrine

Supurr Monday greetings meautiful furiends 

Hello and welcome to the crystal room at BBHQ, grab a cushion and get comfy while we answer this week's question.

We got a lovely email from Alli, asking how we cleanse our crystals, so let's dive right in.

How We Cleanse Crystals 

There are several ways we cleanse crystals, howeffur we're always mindful of each stone's correct way, as not all methods are suitable for all stones. Hence, it's always advisable to do a little research before any cleansing occurs.

And mew might also be wundering, why do we need to cleanse our crystals at all? Well, that's easy to answer, appurrently some crystals which are used/carried frequently absorb your energy, plus the energy around mew.  And at some point, that stone which mew carry around all the time and brings mew joy may suddenly stop bringing mew joy and feel heavy, leaving mew feeling suddenly repelled by it. This is because it needs cleansing to return it to its joyful state. It's a simple fix.

There are a few crystals that never need cleansing. See our Crystal of the Week below to learn about one of them.

The main ways we cleanse our crystals are:

Running water, the full moon, sunlight, bury in soil, bury in salt or smudging and in serious cases of heavy-duty cleansing, some or all of the aforementioned.

1. Running Water: Hold the crystal under running water for as long as necessary.  Though we never use this method for friable crystals such as selenite, as they will dissolve.

2. The Full Moon; anytime in the days prior to a full moon, place crystals so they can be recharged by the moon's rays/energy.

3. Sunlight; leave your crystals on a sunny windowsill for a few days, but do be mindful that darker stones may fade under UV light. Amethysts are prone to fading in sunlight.

4.  Burying in soil; bury in soil and leave for a few days, while this is a good cleanser we prefer to use a terracotta plant pot for this method as mew'd be surprised how many peeps have furgotton where they buried their crystals in the earth, plus if mew have pets in the garden it's not a good idea just in case of poop or widdle in the soil.

5. Bury in salt; the same as above, pour salt into a large pot, not metal and bury the crystals, leave for a few days.

6. Smudging/smudge sticks; smudging is an ancient purractice of using sage or similar herbs wound in a tight bundle held together by twine/string, and burning them while letting the smoke cleanse the crystal. We also buy white sage incense which wurks in a similar fashion. We grow our own sage at BBHQ and make our own smudge sticks. Later this year, maybe we'll share how we make ours. 

We can't think of any more, and to be honest, we think that's plenty to go at! MOL

Many thanks for emailing us Alli, and we hope that answered your question.

 If mew have any crystal questions; email us, and ask us in the comments below.

Crystal of the Week

See the big, tall yellow ones to the right of Pandora? They are Citrines, and in gemlore are reputed to: cleanse auras, help to detoxify the body, assist with tissue regeneration and also are renowned to heighten creativity. They never need cleansing either, and they are purported to absorb, transmute and dissipate negative energy.  

Much smaller Citrines (not the ones in the picture, obviously) are an ideal stone for Chakra healing and correspond to the solar plexus chakra point located between the belly button and rib cage. 

In ancient and mystical texts translated for the modern era; it suggests that placing crystals on these certain points of the body helps bring balance and harmony into union. In other wurds, making mew feel better, whether this is true is entirely in the eyes of the beholder as it were, though many people affirm that this kind of alternative practice is highly beneficial and they feel better for the experience. And there's another school of thought which labels it complete quackery! MOL 

We believe at BBHQ if it makes mew smile and feel better, it's a win. Though it's everypawdys purrsonal choice to follow their own road, or as the P.A. says; always be a shepherd, never a sheep.

So smile, be happy and do what mew love.

We hope mew've all had a totally epic weekend, and that mew're ready for the week ahead, so let's jump right in and start as always with our little breathing exercise, which we're sure mew all have down paw by now...  but if mew've forgotten, stop what mew're doing for a moment and take deep fulfilling breaths; counting to five on the inhale and five on the exhale:

Breathe in

Breathe out

Breathe in

Breathe out

Breathe in

Breathe out

Smooch is here again to offur mew assistance in getting your OM's on and Zen Harmonies happening, so just press play, close your eyes and follow his instructions.



Don't mew feel better already?  I know we do!

All the mandalas featured are created & designed by us, aka The B Team.

Here's this week's mandala.

Right-click the image to save and/or print the mandala.

And here's our finished version... this week's colour vibe is a soft pastel palette, which we think wurks quite well.

Coloured on the iPad and then transformed in Prisma, this time we chose the effect -  Broadway.

Don't furget mew can download** our free Colouring with Cats here:- Books One, Two, Three and Four.

Colouring with Cats Book One

Colouring With Cats Book Two ~ Easy Mandalas 

Colouring With Cats Book III

Colouring With Cats Book IV

[**see our download policy here]

So on that note, we hope your Om's are on, your Zen Harmonies are happening, and we'll see mew on Wednesday when we'll be here sharing this week's News and Gossip, coming straight to mew live from BBHQ!

Until then

Keep Calm and Colour OM!

Supurr purrs

Wing Commander Basil & The B Team 

Follow @BionicBasil® on Instacat, Twitter and Facebook

Graphics created with paid licence www.canva.com