Sleeping With Malachite: 3 Things You Need to Know

A stone that is called the Keeper of Dreams, the ever popular Malachite has long been used by humans to help with bodily ailments, encourage creativity, and to make special people or spaces beautiful.

While people may not always agree about the efficacy of using crystals and/or stones in this manner, we have some information for you before you start sleeping with malachite.

Sleeping With Malachite (EXPLAINED)

One: Malachite isn’t a “safe” substance.

Malachite is formed when copper minerals are altered by other minerals, such as when a solution of copper interacts with limestone. Naturally, malachite has a very high level of copper in it.

While this in itself isn’t a problem per se, as humans regularly consume copper in our water and foods (grains, beans, yeast, cocoa), copper can be harmful to humans and animals if too much of the substance is taken into the body (think copper poisoning, damage to the nervous system, kidney failure).

If you are planning on obtaining any malachite for yourself for the purpose of aiding your sleep, you need to make sure that you take proper precautions if you are digging, mining, cutting, sanding, polishing, or otherwise working with malachite in any way that could cause you to inhale or ingest it.

Wear appropriate protective gear for your eyes and nose/mouth so that you do not breath in any rock dust.

It is recommended that you not even wash up malachite with water or a solution of simple dish soap without gloves and ventilation, as getting the rock wet can release fumes.

People lick malachite to bring out the color without realizing that they are ingesting something pretty bad for them. Please don’t do this.

If you are going to handle malachite, keep it in your home, wear it as jewelry, or sleep with malachite, you should not let it get into your mouth or touch any other membranes (eyes, nose, etc).

Don’t let children play with it, or put it in their mouths. Make sure that your animals can’t snag it off a table with their mouths to play a game or to chew on it.

Some people even recommend that you clean off any exposed skin where the dust containing the copper could land and stick to the oils of your skin. I’m not sure if a full body bath is necessary, but at least wash your hands.

Try not to get it wet, even if the stone is covered in resin to create a protective barrier. Malachite can release unhealthy fumes when wet.

Resin can and does crack, and you might not even realize it while cleaning it.

And finally, it should never be ground up and put into foods or drinks despite what you might hear or read.

How Much Do People Spend on Malachite?

This depends, based upon where you obtain your crystals and minerals. I’ve grabbed a couple of listings from Amazon and added them here so you can see.

Links to Amazon in this post are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a commission from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you.

Two: Sleeping with malachite everyday is probably not dangerous if the stone is properly sealed.

Malachite can be worn against your skin in jewelry (or placed under your pillow at night while sleeping) if it has been properly sealed. When we say “sealed,” we mean that a solid and complete protective barrier has been placed around the stone.

The reason that the barrier is necessary is that even skin that seems to be completely dry is not, as human skin is continually productive. We want to avoid getting malachite wet, or leaving traces on our skin to slowly be absorbed.

Just keep a close eye on the surface of the seal to make sure that it is in good shape.

We’ve seen people using malachite in heavy traffic areas that also involve water (such as in bathtubs, showers, and sinks. We do not recommend.

Three: Malachite is actually quite difficult to care for.

Copper is a metal that is very soft. People who wish to handle malachite, put it under their pillows, or wear it as jewelry will have to take care to prevent it from getting jostled or rubbed too hard because the stone can easily be damaged.

(Just think about the stone getting pushed off the bed, falling on the floor, stuck between the mattress and the headboard, etc).

Why does this matter?

Aside from the impacts on the beauty and shape of the stone, malachite is only safe to handle when it is sealed.

Thus if you are hitting the rock, putting dents in it, changing its shape, you are also damaging the outer coating and allowing your skin to come into contact with the copper in the piece.

The stone can be difficult to shape and polish, as the methods usually used to (tumbling) can actually do more damage to the stone surface than good.

In fact, when confronted with damage to malachite, sometimes jewelers will prefer to fill in the scratch than try to buff it out.

Water, cleaning agents, and other chemicals can dull the polish on the stone or even take it off, and buffing enthusiastically to make it pretty is also not recommended.

Malachite is not all bad.

Malachite has been used for centuries in ways that make us cringe today.

For example, in ancient Egypt, it was ground up to make an eye makeup.

People wore it constantly, without realizing that the makeup which helped reduce the glare of the sun and ward against evil was also full of toxic copper.

That being said, since heavy metal ions are almost all microbial to some degree.

That same dangerous substance (copper) which may have eventually killed, probably also helped keep the eyes of the wearers healthy.

This would have been no small thing during a time when eye irritations were constant (sand, bugs, germs).

Summary

If you are planning on exploring the uses of malachite, just make sure you understand the dangers of the substance and have a plan for how you are going to take care of your special piece, and also how you are going to take care of yourself, your family, and your pets.

If you are wearing malachite jewelry, clean it carefully and regularly, so the status and condition of the seal coating is easy to examine.

And before you start freaking out about malachite above all other minerals/stones, please note that many stones (like malachite) that contain heavy metals need to be handled with care to avoid ingestion or absorption of the metal.

We recommend doing your homework on the stones you collect so you can understand how best to keep yourself safe.