I’m Yanting, founder of My Gem Closet. My work with crystals and intuitive energy healing is shaped by my own experience, ongoing study and personal care.
The full, updated story is now on our About page.
Meet Yanting
The Lion's Gate Crystal Alignment Guide is a free 26-page practice for choosing a crystal, setting an intention you actually believe, and caring for your stones properly. It was written for the Lion's Gate season — 26 July to 12 August — but it's designed to work on any ordinary day of the year.
This is a practice, not a performance. It works in eight minutes or in an hour, and it doesn't need a special date.
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What's inside the guide?
- Five versions of the same ritual — from eight minutes to a full hour, so it fits the energy you actually have
- A crystal matching table — eight forms of abundance, and the stones traditionally chosen for each
- How to cleanse and charge your stones safely — including which ones dissolve in water
- Clearing vs welcoming — the difference between sage and palo santo, and why it matters which you reach for
- Guided journal prompts with space to write
- A monthly check-in so the intention doesn't quietly fade
Who is this guide for?
Anyone who wants to set an intention and actually follow through on it. You don't need to own a crystal to start — though you'll probably want one by the end.
It's written in plain English, so it works whether or not English is your first language, and whether this is your first crystal or your fiftieth.
What is the Lion's Gate portal?
The Lion's Gate is a spiritual season observed each year from 26 July to 12 August, with its symbolic peak on 8 August (8/8).
It marks the return of Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, to the dawn sky after around seventy days out of sight. In ancient Egypt this return arrived alongside the annual flooding of the Nile — the event that fertilised the farmland and fed the country for the year. It marked the Egyptian new year, and Sirius became associated with abundance and renewal.
The modern idea of a "portal" is a contemporary spiritual practice built on top of that much older symbolism. Both can be true and useful at once.
Which crystals should never go in water?
Some stones dissolve, rust, soften or fade. Avoid water for:
- Selenite and satin spar — they dissolve
- Malachite — contains copper
- Pyrite — rusts
- Lapis lazuli, calcite, halite, angelite, celestite, turquoise — soft or porous, and damaged by water
Safe in water: the quartz family (clear, rose, smoky, amethyst), agate, jasper, carnelian and tiger's eye.
When you're unsure
Use a dry method. They work just as well, and nothing is at risk.
How do you cleanse a crystal without water?
Seven methods, all safe for every stone:
- Smoke — pass it gently through palo santo, frankincense, cedar or incense smoke
- Sound — a singing bowl, bell, chime, or your own humming
- Breath — hold it and exhale slowly across it
- Light — picture a clear light moving through the stone and carrying out what isn't yours
- Moonlight — a windowsill overnight
- On a cluster — rest it on selenite, amethyst or quartz
- Earth — set it on soil or a plant pot for a few hours
Then charge it: hold it at your heart, bring one real thing you're grateful for to mind, and stay there for eight slow breaths.
Cleansing empties. Charging fills.
What's the difference between sage and palo santo?
They do two different jobs, and most guides only mention the first.
- Sage clears. It's for releasing, removing and resetting a space that feels heavy or stale. Sharp and astringent — it cuts.
- Palo santo welcomes. Holy wood, in Peruvian and Ecuadorian practice. It's for blessing and inviting something in once there's room. Sweet and warm — it gathers.
For intention setting, lean into welcoming. Alternatives include frankincense, copal, cedar, rose, lavender, sandalwood and rosemary.
A note on white sage
It's a sacred medicine in North American Indigenous practice, and is now threatened in the wild by commercial overharvesting. If you feel drawn to it, buy from Indigenous growers.
Do I need to do this on 8 August?
No. A portal is a doorway, not a deadline.
The guide was written deliberately so it works on any ordinary day — a birthday, a new moon, a new year, a difficult week, or a Tuesday when you notice you've drifted from what you actually wanted.
Download the guide
Free. No email address, no signup, nothing to unsubscribe from. Keep it, print it, and come back to it whenever your alignment needs refreshing. If it's useful, pass it on.
Download the guide
26 pages · PDF · Free
Written by Yanting, founder of My Gem Closet — a UK crystal shop selling ethically sourced, energetically cared-for stones. Crystal work and intention setting are personal practices. No specific emotional, physical, spiritual or financial outcome is promised, and these practices are not a substitute for appropriate professional advice.