Please don't put that stone in your water

A customer asked me this week which crystals she could drop into her water bottle, so here's my annual shop-counter speech.

Some stones are genuinely unsafe to soak. Malachite contains copper. Cinnabar contains mercury. Galena is a lead ore. Selenite just dissolves into a sad puddle. And plenty of the pretty stuff on the market is dyed or resin-treated, so you have no idea what's leaching out.

If you love the idea of a stone blessing your water, use the indirect method: put the water in a sealed glass jar and set the stone beside it or around it, in sunlight or moonlight. You keep the ritual, the intention and the beauty, and nothing goes into your body but water.

I sell rocks for a living. I'd still rather you be safe than sold.