Video re History of Women and Blessings

[smac97]

Just saw this and found it interesting:

A Grok summary:

Quote

Summary of the YouTube Transcript

In this video, the host explores the history of female ritual healing (laying on of hands and blessings with consecrated oil) in the early Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and why the practice eventually disappeared.

Key Historical Points:

• Early Church (1830s–1840s): Women routinely gave healing blessings. Joseph Smith explicitly approved the practice in an April 1842 discourse to the Relief Society, stating there was “no sin” in faithful women laying hands on the sick.
• Nauvoo & Utah periods: The practice was common and encouraged. Women blessed men, men blessed women, and parents blessed children. Brigham Young, John Taylor, and Wilford Woodruff all supported or reaffirmed women’s involvement in healing.
• Women also performed washing and anointing rituals for pregnant women before childbirth, a widespread and officially endorsed practice.

What Changed?

There was no single revelation or dramatic policy shift that banned women from giving blessings. Instead, the practice faded gradually due to several converging factors:

1. Shifting Language (early 1900s): Leaders began discouraging women from using the word “seal” in blessings, suggesting “confirm” instead. This subtly elevated priesthood holders as the preferred administrators.
2. Canonization: Emphasis was placed on D&C 42 and James 5, which highlight calling for the elders.
3. Institutional Primacy: As other churches revived healing rituals, Latter-day Saint leaders increasingly tied healing authority to the priesthood to highlight the Church’s unique claims.
4. Codification & Formalization: As the Church grew and standardized practices, female ritual healing became viewed as a folk tradition rather than an official priesthood function. By the 1920s–1940s, official instructions increasingly directed members to call for male priesthood holders.

Conclusion / Takeaways

• For roughly 100 years, women regularly performed healing blessings with Church approval.
• The shift was gradual and cultural/institutional rather than the result of one decisive revelation.
• The host notes that blessings do not appear to have intrinsically required priesthood authority in the early Church — the assignment of blessings to ordained priesthood holders seems to be a later development.
• He leaves open the possibility that future policy could change again, while affirming that current practices can still be inspired even if they differ from the past.

Overall Tone: Respectful, historically grounded, and thoughtful. The video uses the Jonathan Stapley & Christine Wright scholarly article as its main source and frames the evolution as a complex historical process rather than a simple “right vs. wrong” narrative.

I like the video.  I would like to see a video exploring the sex-based restriction on priesthood ordination.

Thanks,

-Smac

[manol]

Thanks for the link.

About three decades ago this topic was of great interest to me.  One of the factors I came across wasn't mentioned in the video.  This will be from my highly fallible memory:

The Manifesto and the subsequent Second Manifesto resulted in a schism wherein a fundamentalist movement continued to practice plural marriages.  They claimed valid priesthood authority for doing so and my understanding is that one or two Apostles had passed on this sealing authority to members within the fundamentalist movement.  My understanding is that the mainstream LDS church did not dispute their claims of having received valid authority, but rather took the position that exercising this authority without the approval of the President of the Church was inappropriate and therefore invalid (as well as being grounds for excommunication).

So the question was not whether the fundamentalists had been given the proper authority; the question was whether they could use it.  The mainstream Church took the position that the priesthood lines of authority are what matters, and therefore the approval of the President of the Church is necessary.

The fundamentalists countered with the example of LDS women giving blessings as evidence that the authority to act in the name of God was not constrained solely to the Church's priesthood lines of authority.

So the practice of women giving blessings became a sore subject of sorts in the dispute with the fundamentalists over their use of priesthood authority to perform plural marriages without the approval of the President of the Church.  It was in the interest of the Church's position on the outside-priesthood-lines-of-authority performance of plural marriages for the practice of women giving blessings to be downgraded or discredited, and discontinued.

Personally, I do not think the practice of women giving blessings is or ever was "wrong" in the eyes of God, regardless of the then-current position of those in ecclesiastical authority. 

Edited May 11 by manol

[webbles]

1 hour ago, manol said:

Thanks for the link.

About three decades ago this topic was of great interest to me.  One of the factors I came across wasn't mentioned in the video.  This will be from my highly fallible memory:

The Manifesto and the subsequent Second Manifesto resulted in a schism wherein a fundamentalist movement continued to practice plural marriages.  They claimed valid priesthood authority for doing so and my understanding is that one or two Apostles had passed on this sealing authority to members within the fundamentalist movement.  My understanding is that the mainstream LDS church did not dispute their claims of having received valid authority, but rather took the position that exercising this authority without the approval of the President of the Church was inappropriate and therefore invalid (as well as being grounds for excommunication).

So the question was not whether the fundamentalists had been given the proper authority; the question was whether they could use it.  The mainstream Church took the position that the priesthood lines of authority are what matters, and therefore the approval of the President of the Church is necessary.

The fundamentalists countered with the example of LDS women giving blessings as evidence that the authority to act in the name of God was not constrained solely to the Church's priesthood lines of authority.

So the practice of women giving blessings became a sore subject of sorts in the dispute with the fundamentalists over their use of priesthood authority to perform plural marriages without the approval of the President of the Church.  It was in the interest of the Church's position on the outside-priesthood-lines-of-authority performance of plural marriages for the practice of women giving blessings to be downgraded or discredited, and discontinued.

Personally, I do not think the practice of women giving blessings is or ever was "wrong" in the eyes of God, regardless of the then-current position of those in ecclesiastical authority. 

I haven't ever heard about women blessings being used by fundamentalists in that manner.  I'd have to go find it.

But there were 2 apostles that the leaders of the church did worry about: John W. Taylor (John Taylor's son) and Matthias F. Cowley.  But I don't believe any of the major fundamentalists claim authority through them.  They were excommunicated (Taylor) or suspended (Cowley).  Most fundamentalists claim their authority directly through President John Taylor, the 1886 revelation, and Loren Wooley.  And that claim is very much disputed.

[manol]

10 minutes ago, webbles said:

But there were 2 apostles that the leaders of the church did worry about: John W. Taylor (John Taylor's son) and Matthias F. Cowley.  But I don't believe any of the major fundamentalists claim authority through them.  They were excommunicated (Taylor) or suspended (Cowley).  Most fundamentalists claim their authority directly through President John Taylor, the 1886 revelation, and Loren Wooley.  And that claim is very much disputed.

Thank you.  Those names ring a bell, but the details of who played or did not play what role is the sort of thing I'm likely to have mixed up. 

[Calm]

4 hours ago, smac97 said:

female ritual healing became viewed as a folk tradition rather than an official priesthood function

Of course it was.  Kind of like midwives became seen as uneducated, superstitious, and unsafe…

[BlueDreams]

On 5/11/2026 at 12:06 PM, smac97 said:

Just saw this and found it interesting:

A Grok summary:

I like the video.  I would like to see a video exploring the sex-based restriction on priesthood ordination.

Thanks,

-Smac

There's a great (far farrrr longer) series I just finished on women and priesthood history in the church that I would highly recommend to anyone interested in theses topics:

 

Don't know if someone has referenced this before, but just in case not, plopping it down here. 

 

With luv, 

BD 

[BlueDreams]

On 5/11/2026 at 5:09 PM, Calm said:

Of course it was.  Kind of like midwives became seen as uneducated, superstitious, and unsafe…

The timeline also fits that same period too. I do wonder how much those two are connected 

[smac97]

21 minutes ago, BlueDreams said:

There's a great (far farrrr longer) series I just finished on women and priesthood history in the church that I would highly recommend to anyone interested in theses topics:

 

Don't know if someone has referenced this before, but just in case not, plopping it down here. 

 

With luv, 

BD 

A Grok summary:

Quote

Summary of the Podcast Episode: "Women and Priesthood" Final Episode (Wrap-Up/Synthesis)

This is the concluding episode of a multi-part podcast series exploring the historical and doctrinal relationship between women and priesthood in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Hosts Scott, Casey, and guest expert Lisa (a Church History Department researcher) review key insights, thank contributors, recommend resources, and synthesize findings into a clear framework.

1. Thanks and Recommended Resources

The hosts give strong praise to Lisa for her extensive research. They highlight valuable modern resources for further study:

• The First 50 Years of Relief Society (read the section introductions for a strong overview).
• Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s A House Full of Females (on polygamy and women’s rights in early Mormonism).
• Church History Department publications: Discourses of Eliza R. Snow, Emeline B. Wells, At the Pulpit, and Gospel Topics essays.

They note we are in a “golden age” of women’s history in the Church thanks to decades of scholarly work.

2. The Six Definitions of Priesthood (Scott’s Framework)

The core of the episode is Scott’s “Six Definitions of Priesthood,” developed for a young adult stake lesson. This framework shows how the meaning of “priesthood” has evolved and how women relate to it differently across definitions:

1. Holy Order / Group of Priests (1830s, D&C 84, 107, 124) — A male-only body of ordained officers (Aaronic & Melchizedek). Women are outside it but beneficiaries of its ordinances.
2. Church Office / Calling — “What is your priesthood?” = “I’m an elder/high priest.” Pre-1842, women held no offices (minor exception: Emma Smith’s 1832 revelation and hymnbook work).
3. Eternal Celestial Order (Cosmological / Familial / Patriarchal Priesthood) — The sealed network of families across generations (temple sealing work). Men and women fully participate as priests and priestesses, kings and queens.
4. Temple Workers / Officiators — In Nauvoo, both men and women were part of the “temple priesthood,” officiating in washings, anointings, and endowments. Still operative today, though the term is rarely used.
5. The Power of God (mid-1800s–early 1900s, Brigham Young, Wilford Woodruff, Joseph F. Smith) — Priesthood as God’s delegated power. This view became dominant and shifted toward a male-only understanding, leading to the “priesthood for men / motherhood for women” parallel.
6. Authority in Church Callings (Modern — Elder D. H. Oaks, 2014 “Keys and Authority of the Priesthood”) — Anyone (man or woman) set apart to a calling exercises priesthood authority in their duties, even though only men are ordained to offices and hold keys. This has become widespread language in the Church.

Key takeaway: “It’s complicated.” The relationship between women and priesthood depends on which definition is being used. Women clearly belong to and participate in definitions 3, 4, and 6 (and arguably exercise power in 5 in limited ways).

3. Additional Topics

• Sister Missionaries: History begins in 1898. Early challenges (form letters literally crossed out “brother” and “elder” language). Missionary service is a priestly function; definition 6 fits perfectly. The 2012–2014 age changes dramatically increased female participation and shifted culture.
• Heavenly Mother:
  • Traced to Joseph Smith (secondhand accounts via Zina Huntington Jacobs and Eliza R. Snow).
  • Official but sparse doctrine (1909 First Presidency statement, Family Proclamation).
  • Gospel Topics essay is intentionally brief and cautious.
  • Elder Renlund (2022): “Once you’ve read the essay, you know everything I know.”
  • Caution against speculation or praying to her (President Hinckley), but respect for women who find deep personal meaning in the doctrine. It functions as a “Rorschach test” shaped by personal experience.

4. Overarching Conclusion

The ultimate purpose of priesthood (all definitions) is to help men and women become like their Heavenly Parents — kings and queens, priests and priestesses in the eternal family order. “Our theology begins with heavenly parents. Our aspiration is to be like them.” (Elder Oaks, 1995).

The episode ends on an optimistic, hopeful note: the Church is in a time of greater openness about temple themes, women’s history, and expanding roles, with more change occurring generationally (especially via missionary service and temple emphasis).

Overall Tone: Faithful, historically grounded, nuanced, and pastoral. It acknowledges complexity, past ambiguities, and differing personal experiences while celebrating restored truths and ongoing development. Highly recommended for anyone wanting a thoughtful, non-polemical overview of the topic.

I will listen to it.  Thank you for sharing the link.

Back in 2013 I started a thread relating to this topic:

What Is The Scriptural Basis For Limiting The Priesthood To Males?

This was prior to then-Elder Oaks' important GC talk:

The Keys and Authority of the Priesthood

Thanks,

-Smac

[BlueDreams]

1 hour ago, smac97 said:

A Grok summary:

I will listen to it.  Thank you for sharing the link.

Back in 2013 I started a thread relating to this topic:

What Is The Scriptural Basis For Limiting The Priesthood To Males?

This was prior to then-Elder Oaks' important GC talk:

The Keys and Authority of the Priesthood

Thanks,

-Smac

Just a note: i didn't do well with my copy and paste job. This is the last episode in the 9 part series. The overview given is pretty accurate for that last episode. They had two episodes just on women's blessings and healing rituals too, among several other angles to this topic. 

I'm going to try to link to the full series one more time:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxtDdds6EoqWjXTkVMzpECgw9ZqmR-YJq

With luv, 

BD