The temple is widely discussed as a place of peace, service, and revelation. But do we see it as a place of healing? I didn’t until I listened to a Magnify podcast episode with psychologist Dr. Wendy Ulrich.
Dr. Ulrich sees the temple as a hospital for our spirits. She specifically mentioned how the washing and anointing of the initiatory ordinance are symbolic of healing. Her beautiful insights are helping me see that the initiatory ordinance is more applicable to my day-to-day life than I’ve ever appreciated before.
The Beauty of the Washing and Anointing
Dr. Ulrich draws an analogy to how we heal physical cuts: the wound would be cleaned, then an ointment would be applied to aid in healing, and then a bandage is secured. The washing, anointing, and holy garments we receive in the initiatory ordinance offers a similar healing to our spiritual wounds.
“It’s hard to live in this world without getting cut and hurt spiritually or … emotionally, and symbolically sort of bleeding all over ourselves. Or other people get hurt and they bleed all over us because they don’t know what they’re doing either,” Dr. Ulrich says. “And so we come in [to the temple] prepared to be filled with the Spirit, to be washed and anointed as they would wash and anoint and clothe priests in the ancient temples of Israel.”
The Relevance to Daily Life
I had never considered that beautiful symbolism—the washing and anointing of the initiatory ordinance is symbolic of spiritual healing. And healing is something we all need.
Dr. Ulrich points out that we experience little cuts to our spirits every day, whether it’s demeaning voices in our own heads or unkind words from others.
“You can’t even turn the TV on without feeling a little wounded, feeling a little like, What is going on in this world? Those are the kinds of daily assaults that I think can really cause us to feel the reality that we are in a lonely, dreary world,” she says.
Through the temple, Heavenly Father offers us a way to take a break from the world and heal our painful cuts.
“It may not be that we’re going [to the temple] for some huge insight into our psyche, I’m not saying that,” Dr. Ulrich says. “But we’re going to find that peace. We’re going to be re-grounded and re-centered in the calm, curious, compassionate part of ourselves. Instead of these little subparts that are kind of yelling at us or undermining us or telling us what we’re doing wrong or … whatever it might be.”
I love the idea that through worship in the house of the Lord, I can with time be healed from “whatever it might be.”
You can listen to the full Magnify episode with Dr. Ulrich now and find additional articles about the temple below.
▶ Watch: Breathtaking video of the Church’s 200th temple
▶ How my feelings about the temple garment have evolved over time
▶ Why saying ‘receive’ your endowment can be more helpful, accurate, and respectful
▶ Who writes temple dedicatory prayers? Where can I read my temple’s dedicatory prayer?
▶ Professional athlete shares surprising, special impact of a temple tour on her teammate
