Editing Washing and anointing (section)

==Use in LDS female healing rituals==
Historically, Latter-day Saint women performed special washings and anointings to heal the sick and afflicted. Joseph Smith officially sanctioned female healing in 1842. This practice continued in the LDS Church until at least the 1940s. A sick person was washed, anointed with oil, and given a [[priesthood blessing]] by the "laying on of hands".<ref name=female_healing>{{cite journal |last1=Stapley |first1=Jonathan A. |last2=Wright |first2=Kristine |title=Female Ritual Healing in Mormonism |journal=Journal of Mormon History |volume=37 |issue=1 |page=1-85 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23291588 |access-date=16 July 2024}}</ref>

One of the first recorded female healings took place at the [[Relief Society]] meeting on April 19, 1842. Sarah Cleveland and [[Elizabeth Ann Whitney]], who were counselors in the Relief Society Presidency, administered to Abigale Leonard "for the restoration of health." Minute notes also indicate that Sister Martha Sessions may have laid her hands on [[Eliza R. Snow]] to give her a blessing during this meeting.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Snow |first1=Eliza R |title=Nauvoo Relief Society Minute Book |url=https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/nauvoo-relief-society-minute-book/56 |website=Joseph Smith Paper |publisher=The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |access-date=16 July 2024}}</ref>

In the following Relief Society meeting, on April 28th, 1842, Joseph Smith said that anyone who has faith can give [[priesthood blessing|priesthood blessings]] to heal the sick. Smith said that God had sanctioned female healing by the laying on of hands and that anyone who disagreed should "hold their tongues."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Snow |first1=Eliza R. |title=Nauvoo Relief Society Minute Book |url=https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/nauvoo-relief-society-minute-book/59 |website=Joseph Smith Papers |publisher=The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |access-date=16 July 2024 |pages=35-37}}</ref>

[[Brigham Young]] and [[Ezra T. Benson]] encouraged women to perform these healing rituals at home. However, by the April 1921 [[general conference (LDS)|general conference]] the consensus was that healings should only be performed by Melchizedek Priesthood holders (who are exclusively male).<ref name=":0" /> 

In 1946, Joseph Fielding Smith sent a letter to Belle S. Spafford, the General Relief Society President at the time, discouraging the practice of female healing, indicating that it was likely still happening at this time.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=female_healing/>