#nusku

Nusku, fiery light, sukkal, please carry my words: King Enlil, who received great power from almighty An. Enlil you concern yourself with the divine, you are deserving of the highest praises. The Diĝirene listen to your judgments. [...] Please look favorably upon me. Enlil, praising you is sweet!

Bizil-ana, radiant, sukkal, please carry my words: Queen Ninlil, you are a foremost and watchful lady. Ninlil, kind mother, you concern yourself with humanity, you are deserving of the highest praises. Humanity cherishes your compassion. [...] Please look favorably upon me. Ninlil, praising you is sweet!

King Enlil and Queen Ninlil you take your seats upon the good, great, and shining thrones where you determine destinies. I will praise you continuously!

— by IzkurEreshkigal

Notes

Sukkal is "vizier" or "attendant" of a Digir. But the translation is lacking so l don't use it.

[...] is for adding any supplications or complaints you are seeking remedies for. It can be skipped / unused.

"foremost and watchful lady" taken from ETCSL 2.5.3.4

Of course, I couldn't resist putting them together…

The First House. Heralds. House of the Dawn. Namaru. Devils.

anašši dipāru ṣalmīšunu aqallu  ša utukku šēdu rābiṣu eṭemmu u mimma lemnu muṣabbit amēlūti  ēpiš kišpī ruẖê rusê upšāšê lemnūti ina amāt Ea u Asalluẖi Girra qāmû liqmūkunūši  ẖūlā zūbā u itattukā  quturkunu lītelli ina šamê la'mīkunu liballi šamšu  liprus ẖayyattakunu mār Ea mašmaššu

I raise the torch, I burn your figurines! Utukku demon, šēdu demon, “lurker” demon, ghost And any evil that can seize men, Those who performed witchcraft, magic, sorcery and evil machinations May Girra, the burner, burn you at the command of Ea and Asalluẖi Dissolve, melt and drip away! May your smoke steadily rise into the sky, May the Sun extinguish your embers, May Ea’s son, the exorcist, cut off the terror emanating from you!

—

I’ve previously posted a Babylonian incantation that was part of a larger ritual to get rid of evil spirits (here), and this is another of these incantations, though this one is part of the famous Maqlû (“burning”) ritual, while that other one is part of a different exoricsm rite. Here, incorporating elements of sympathetic magic, one can see the exorcist burn a figurine that represents all the evil that’s affecting the patient: the utukku (Sumerian udug) are half-made featureless shadow beings that, according to Wiggermann (see his paper “The Mesopotamian Pandemonium”), are the by-product of creation; šēdu is like the word daemon, sometimes used to describe good protective spirits (the male counterpart of the female lamassu), other times it refers to actual demons (Hebrew šed is related); the lurker, rābiṣu, waited places where people would be alone and then struck them with illness (often giving them really nasty stuff like strokes); and the eṭemmu (Sumerian gidim) are close to our idea of ghosts, angry shadows of the dead who can’t rest for some reason (some had “unfinished business” but not being properly buried was the most common case, as it deprived the spirit from joining the underworld and could even destroy the spirit’s identity, turning it into something close to an utukku).

The gods called to aid the exorcist are: Girra (also called Gibil), the Old Babylonian god of fire and light, for obvious reasons (he’s invoked, like, 50 times over the Maqlû), syncretized with Nusku/Nuska; Ea, the Babylonian name for Sumerian god Enki, creator of mankind and god of wisdom and magic, who appears in lots of exorcism formulas; and Asalluẖi, the patron god of exorcism later syncretized into Marduk. 

I'm very inspired by the setting of Demon: The Fallen and am absolutely thrilled with how different demons are supposed to be within a setting framework. In this series, I want to show every demonic Visage.

Of course, I'll start in order. The First House. Heralds. House of the Dawn. Namaru. Devils.

Nusku, the Visage of Fire

As the name implies, these Devils control fire and are associated with its creation in the early days of the creation of the world. But it is also known that the lightning bolt is also made by Nusku and then given to the fifth house. And given not by the Devils themselves, but by God. Very frustrating, isn't it? This isn't the first time this house has been scammed.

I was inspired by this act of injustice and made a character based on it. His name is Vahagn. One of the Nusku who created the lightning bolt. For Vahagn, this became one of the reasons to rebel against the Creator. The older ones should patronize the younger ones, should share with them. But as the oldest, only the Devils give. It's a mistake. The Creator is good at making mistakes, what if he's wrong about something else too? He's oppressive, he's harsh. His words and his decisions aren't always right.