laying hands
Ritual touch bestowed
Laying hands is the ritual act of placing one's hands on another person, typically on the head, to confer blessing, healing, or spiritual authority.
The practice appears across religious traditions—Christian ordination, faith healing, prayer for the sick: The elders gathered around her, laying hands and praying for recovery.
Outside religious contexts, laying hands on someone usually means touching them aggressively: If you lay hands on my child, there will be consequences.
- healingRestoration of health
- faith healingTreatment through religious practice
- prayerAddress to deity
- prayer circleGroup gathered for collective worship
- blessingPrayer seeking divine favor
Holy Spirit · anointing · divine power · touch · healing touch · ordination · consecration · spiritual · faith · minister · church elders · palms · warmth · transferring · channeling · ceremony · sacred · invoke
- Christian serviceministry, service, serving, serving others, deacons
- faith healingfaith healing, faith healers, faith healer, divine healing, healing prayer
- ordinationholy orders, ordination ceremony, ordained minister, ordinand, priesthood
- spiritual practicesprayer, meditation, contemplative prayer, silent prayer, mindfulness
- worship actspraying, kneeling, prostration, genuflection, bowing
- liturgyDivine Office, missal, lectionary, rite, Tridentine Mass
laying handshands off
Forbidding contact or meddling
keeping distance · withdrawing · pulling away · abstaining · non-contact
laying handscursing
Using profane language
striking · harming · assaulting · smiting · desecrating
laying handsmedical treatment
Care for illness
surgery · evidence-based medicine · physical therapy · chemotherapy · prescription medication
laying, hands, hand, laid, lays, layers, layering, inlays, outlay