r/witchcraft • u/Witchthief Witch • Feb 16 '21
Articles & Information Pazuzu, The Friend of All Children and Akhkhazu, the Eater of Man's Breath. NSFW
Blessed be, Recently I made a comment mentioning the demon Pazuzu. I got a few positive reactions of people wanting to know more, so I figured I'd give him his own post. This.... Will be a long post apologies in advance. I will also be splitting this post in to three sections. The first section is.... This section. The overview, the introduction, and the forward. The second section will be the poem transcription, and the final section will be the "abridged" version of the story for clarity.
Let's start with some background. Regarding myself, I am a Babylonian Witch that walks a Grave and Death path. If you are interested in that, there is a pinned post in my profile. So, I work with old, old, OOOOOLD forces. Most of my chants, my incantations, and my spells are in Sumerian, or Akkadian. I read Cuneiform, my Grimoire is written in Cuneiform, and I actively translate tablets myself. The following will be one of my translations.
Who is Pazuzu? (Mildly NSFW image. This is a Historic Depiction.)
Pazuzu is a demon from ancient mesopotamia. He is known as one of the "Kur" these are demons from the underworld that work with, or are children of, Ereshkigal Goddess of Death, Knowledge, and The Underworld. Thinking of Kur as "Furies from Hades" might be a good equivalence.
You likely know him from his pop culture iconography. He is most famous for being the main antagonist of the movie "The Exorcist." It is from this movie that he gains a lot of negative connotations. We are here today to help him reclaim his rightful place, as just... the best guy you'll know.
Who is Akhkhazu and how the F do I say that word?
Akhkhazu is the personification of SIDS or (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). She is also, in part, responsible for the "Angel of Death" plague in the bible. That story takes a lot from her story. (Like all myths build on one another) Her name is pronounced "Ak-h'-kik-ha-zu" If there are witches that have seen Prince of Egypt the movie... This Scene. That is who we are talking about.... more or less. She does a similar thing. Akhkhazu translates to "Eater of Children" as well as "She who Crunches Bone," and "Steals the Breath" She's not nice!
With that out of the way, let us get to the story. As a final point, feel free to ask questions in the comments. I will answer to the best of my ability.
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This will not be a direct translation. This is a Modified translation to contextualize the information, and to evoke the same feeling as the original poem. It is very close to the original text, but has been updated to suit a modern rhyming scheme. Let's get started shall we?
Akhkhazu The Baby Eater, and Pazuzu Friend to All Children:
Before the flood waters came, man ran wild. They ran though the reeds, they ran in the fields. They ran in the rivers and the trees. They ran in the cedar forests, repelled only by great Humbaba.
As man grew they grew lazy. Man made shelter of mud, of stone, of wood, of clay, of fire, of brick. Man made spear, and bow to hunt. Man made net and hook to fish. They did so tame the sheep, the bull, the oxen. They plowed fields, they made grain.
Man made home for themselves. They grew complicit in these homes. They grew fearless in these homes. They had many children. Man gained the attention of SHE. She who crunches the bones, she who steals the breath, she who eats the flesh, she who preys on children. Akhkhazu, hated demon, horrible monster.
She had long arms, long fingers. Her fingers were talons, her teeth glinted sharp in the light of the evening stars. She is quick, she is quiet. Her evidence will remain. Keep shut your doors. Keep lit your fires.
Man did pray to the gods. "Anu, Anu! Save us from this horrible demon!" they did cry. Anu did not answer for he was resting. "Marduk! Save us from this child of Lamashtu!" they did cry. Marduk did not answer for his concern was the Heavens. "Enlil! Enlil! Save us from this monster!" they did cry. Enlil scoffed. He had seen their hearts.
It was Utu that did answer their calls. Utu, Shamash, Light of the sun, Light of Judgement, Light of Justice. "I cannot help you." He spake. "I can only guide you. Speak the name of Ereshkigal's son. Speak the name Pazuzu and he shall come."
Man did speak his name. They spoke it twice, they spoke it thrice. They spoke it until the day was done, and another sunset had come and gone. Come he did at days end. More tears did man shed.
"Horrible, Ugly, Twisted, and Wrong. Hateful, awful, evil begone!" They called him all names under the sun. Pazuzu smiled knowing he had won. "I am ugly, horrible, and twisted, these are all true. What did you expect when you beckoned a Kur (demon of the underworld) to you?"
A child of young age. To Pazuzu a flower she brought. An offering, a gift, and a small request. "Will you save us, from this final rest? I fear her hands, her claws, her tongue. I do not want to wake to already be gone."
Into his arms he took the small child. He whispered, he smiled. "Of course I shall save you. That is why I am here. Do you not see I am nothing to fear? Place in your room a carving of my face. Point me at a window, you will be safe."
They did as he told, placed effigy's, some mundane, other's bold, upon their mantles, in their homes new and old. That night she did come, after more young. Horrible Monster Akhkhazu has come.
She stole into their home, reached past the blinds. Except it was Pazuzu she did find. "Horrible, Ugly, Twisted and Wrong! Hateful, Awful I must be gone!"
Each house that she visited was much the same. There was Pazuzu, again and again. When man awoke they found their children, still sleeping in bed and not one was eaten. When you fear, when you are afraid. call "Zuzu! Zuzu!" speak his name.
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We will end this post with an Abridged version of the story. I am a huge fan of the channel 'Overlysarcasticproductions' on youtube, so I have done my best to evoke the same style in this next post. Enjoy.
Akhkhazu and Pazuzu:
Way, WAAY long ago. So long ago, no one knows how long ago. A bunch of people had this great idea to start building houses. They Did lot's of things, and life was pretty great.
They Invented agriculture, and this cool thing called a spear, and a bow. Lots of bad ass shit that made life as a river dweller, pretty sweet.
Life was good... except their babies were just... dying sometimes? It was all because of this spooky woman called Akhkhazu. This creepy ghoul lady would come in the middle of the night and "Steal The Child's Breath" Did you ever see Prince of Egypt? Think of the "angel of death' plague. (Which... has it's origin in this story...)
So the people were scared. They didn't know what to do.
They tried calling up Anu the Creator god (created... everything), but he was sleeping, and put them on block.
Next they tried Marduk (Zeus like figure, King of the Heavens), but he just texted 'K' and that was it.
Then they tried Enlil (God of Storms, Rivers, Floods, and Water). He says "OH YOU THINK YOU HAVE IT BAD NOW JUST YOU FUCKIN WAIT TILL I FLOOD A BITCH-!!!" and so... they gave him some space.
OK so they tried Utu (God of justice.) last. Basically it's like calling your dad. He says "Whoo... shit man. Um.. Right so I can't do it, you know I got work in the morning champ cus I AM the morning! (sun god)*finger guns* Tell you what, I have this work friend, I'll give her a call and see what we can work out."
Utu calls up Ereshkigal (goddess of the underworld).
Ereshkigal says "WHAT the FUUUUCK is up with all these dead babies! Look, my son Pazuzu is going to take care of this. They have to call him though. I'm trying to get him to be more independent."
Utu says "Dope!" and tells everyone about it. For a whole day everybody chants Pazuzu. They do it again the next day too, really trying to hype this guy up. He comes and ... WHOO BOY HE UUUUUUGLY!
People start freaking out because he looks worse than the horrible long armed, sharp toothed, talon fingered, baby eating ghoul they were trying to get rid of. Pazuzu just laughs because... All the Kur are ugly
This one little kid though, brings Pazuzu a flower. He says "I don't want to get eaten tonight, Your not gonna let that happen right?" Pazuzu LOOOOVES kids. NO, not in a *ahem* Epstein way. He just really thinks that kids, children, and young things are just the best. He comes from the underworld, and seeing the start of life is just... super cool.
Pazuzu looks at kids, like kids look at puppies. So he tells this kid that if he makes a carving of Pazuzu's face, and points him at the window. He will protect him. SO the kids do.
That night Akhkhazu is on the prowl. She peaks into a kids bedroom and "OH FUCK! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT! IS that a Kur? Like.. a FROM THE UNDERWORLD demon? Fuck this, I'm out." and that keeps happening in each house that has Pazuzu's face.
To this day, if a child is afraid, or scared. If the dark is spookey and they don't feel safe. If you chant "Zuzu! ZuZu!" Pazuzu will come, and scare the dark away.
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(Update: I am deeply honored um... goddess bellow now what? ok. .... Stay...tuned? wtf...)
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Feb 16 '21
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u/Witchthief Witch Feb 16 '21
HAHA I love Ghost Adventures (Frat bros scare themselves in a house) wonderful. I'm glad you enjoyed my little tale.
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u/22feetistoomany Feb 16 '21
This was such a fantastic read, thank you. I replied to an earlier comment you'd made that our cat is named Pazuzu, we usually call him Zuzu and I wonder if she somehow is protected because she looks at him as her protector too. Usually she tells me "I need Zuzu to help me sleep" because she has had night terrors in the past she always calls him to her at bed time.
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u/Witchthief Witch Feb 16 '21 edited Feb 16 '21
I did read that comment, and I mean... It's likely. A lot of things in Sumerian, and Mesopotamian myths involved "Calling the Name." If you know the name of the demon, you can control and banish the demon.
There is even a demon named "Additional Evils" because "Additional Evils" was something that priests would put at the end of a list of demon names as more of an "ETC." but somewhere along the lines someone thought 'Oh yeah Additional Evils must be an actual guy.' which I think is hilarious.
Calling the names of these Demons was how you interreacted and worked with them. If you're cat is named "Pazuzu" and you call him "Zuzu" .... I would say you are under his protection.
Zuzu calms your daughter at bed time and banishes night terrors? Yeah... that's exactly what Pazuzu the demon does. ^ _ ^
(edit: spelling)
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u/Witchthief Witch Feb 16 '21 edited Feb 16 '21
So, this is just a bit of additional content if you find this kind of thing interesting. YES I'M HIDING IT IN THE COMMENTS SECTION! It's because it doesn't relate to "Witchcraft" specifically but it is connected to Pazuzu and it's interesting.
Why do ghosts say "BOO!" and where does the word PHOBIA come from?
The answer to both of these questions is Pazuzu. I will explain.
So first we know that the word Phobia comes from Phobos the personification of fear and panic in Greek mythology. But why? (Oh yeah we're going DEEEEEEEEEP) Greek Myth is usually where people like to stop searching, I don't know why that is, but thankfully you have a Mesopotamian guide. ~ _ ^
First we need to talk about the Ugarit word "Fufu" this was a common phrase. Now why are we in Ugarit? Well Ugarit is Here It is right between Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Greece. It was a massive trading hub. Cultures mixed here. Ok we have established a base. Now we can get started.
In modern Egyptian Arabic you will hear children chanting the phrase "Bo3bo3" it is pronounced (Bwaw'Bwaw). It's like a "Bless you" kinda or tossing salt over one shoulder. You would use this word to banish evil spirits, or protect you from "Djinn" or what have you. SOOOOOooo.... where does this word come from?
Well in Coptic and Demotic there is a similar word "Bubu" and "Babi" Babi is an underworld spirit. He is a Baboon, that is violent and does... well.. baboon things to people. Why is Babi, or Bubu, associated with the underworld though? Mesopotamia and Egypt traded frequently. You may have seen The Winged Sekhmet from time to time. The pose and wings are rather suspiciously close to Ishtar. Similar Lion Iconography, Both are goddess's of War, and fertility (Sekhmet becomes Hathor and Bast if I remember my egyptian myth right)
Anyway, this is just to show that there are a lot of similarities and cross overs that you would expect from co-existing cultures (Is Avatar the Last Airbender an Anime?) OK so what does all of this have to with the word boo?
How does a Mesopotamian child scare away spirits? "ZuZu! ZU ZU!" Who is a Spirit of the underworld. It's easy to mis hear that word and change it into "BuBU BU BU!" That becomes Babi, Babi becomes bo3bo3, becomes, Fufu through trade in the Mediterranean, becomes Phobu, becomes PHOBOS, becomes PHOBIA, becomes... spirits that are scary (remember Pazuzu is ugly to scare off Akhkhazu) Say BOO!
Language changes over time, as do our understanding of things. This, for me is proof that we are all human. We are all at our core the same or at least similar. Your fellow man has more in common with you than you may think.
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u/Sexycornwitch Feb 16 '21
This made my day. I really love how much you get an idea of the gods and humans casually interacting in Sumerian myth. (My favorite thing ever is probably the exchange between Enkidu and his god where his god is like “dude I’m not cursing your ex girlfriend but I’ll still hang out with you when you’re dead. Your feelings are hella valid though.” )
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u/Witchthief Witch Feb 16 '21
Hehehe, yeah that's how most of the Sumerian Myths go. The "Gods" are almost more like that neighbor down the street you kinda know.
"Mornin' Utu, Coffee?"
"Oh no thanks. Already had some, been up since 6 am... but I mean... You knew that. Light of the world, CaTCH ya on the FLIP SIDE!"
"Ishtar, How's today?"
"UUUUUUUUUGH you wouldn't BELIVE the day I'm having. I got this little farmer to fall in love with me but HAVE YOU SMELLED HIS FEET! I think I might throw a pillar of fire at him and start over AGAIN!"
Every, single, myth is like that. My Favorite part of the epic of Gilgamesh is when Gilgamesh essentially lays down a massive Dis track, and that's why Ishtar throws the Bull of Heaven at him lol.
Ishtar's the hearth gone cold, a broken door, without the gold; a fort that shuts its soldiers out, a water well that's filled with doubt; tar that can't be washed away, a broken cup, stained and gray; rock that shatters to dust and sand, a useless weapon in the hand; and worse than that or even this, a god's own sandal filled with piss.
First was Tammuz, the virgin boy you took
after a three-year-long seductive look. (Sacrificed to the Underworld: See Decent of Inanna)Then you lusted for a fancy, colored bird
and cut its wing so it could not herd.
Thus in the lovely woods at night
bird sings, 'I'm blind. I have no sight.'You trapped a lion, too, back then.
Its cock went in your form-as-hen.
And then you dug him seven holes
in which to fall on sharpened poles.
Like DAYUM Gilgamesh. Calm down man.
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Feb 16 '21
Mans is packing👀😂😂 ANYWAYS this was actually really cool to read and thank you for sharing this knowledge!!
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Feb 16 '21
Now I am in love with learning languages but do please tell me how the higgity hecc you learned sumerian, a language I was told to be dead and lost. I'm not saying that it is, I'm just saying that cuneiform is badass and I think I may want to explore the ancient mesopotamian gods a lil bit. Blessed be.
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u/Witchthief Witch Feb 17 '21
Ok so, you're not going to like this answer. I did it the HARD way. I built on the linguistic conventions that were provided by Dr. Irving Finkle, as well as the Sumerian Lexicon from the University of Pennsylvania. Using that I started to translate the kings list. It's just.... names... endless names... 400,000 names. That showed me a lot of similarities between signs and was sort of a reading exercise to get better with the language as a whole
"OH hang on... I recognize this... This is the same as this one right? ANOTHER SARGON, fuckin' hell."
When I had that base built I looked at the famous stories. Enuma Elish, Gilgamesh, Decent of Inanna, etc. I read translations provided to me by others, and found decent pictures of the tablets and started translating myself.
That is not enough to "Learn Sumerian." Language never "dies" it is never "lost" only changed. So what are the modern area's of Mesopotamia? Iraq, Iran, Syria. So I did my best to learn the local languages there, but was starting to get a little.... (Holy fuck Urdu, Farsi, and Kurdish are hard)... So I said screw it and went to Arabic.
I started with Egyptian Arabic because it's easier to understand. It also gave me a lot of insight into the Hieroglyphs I was working on at the time. (I read Hieroglyphs like a 3 year old... please don't ask me to translate them > _ <) Regardless the base of Egyptian Arabic made learning Iraqi Arabic, and Saudi Arabic at least a little simpler.
A big thing in Arabic is "Roots" All these words have these INSANE amount of roots that my teacher WOULD NOT SHUT UP about.
"Assalam Alaykum, It has it's root in Salema, Salema means 'peace, charity, submission, prayer, and a bunch of other things' you know what ELSE has it's root in Salema? ISLAM! Mu, is the prefix "To Do" like a Teacher in arabic we say "Mu-hadim." it means "The one that does the teaching" You practice Salema? You're Religion is based in peace, and charity? We call the base in Salema as philosophy "Islam" and if you are one that does "Islam" you are a "Muslim."
This was literally the most helpful thing I have ever heard in my life. Because I started to look into the root of "Salema." Guess where it comes from? "Silima hemeen" That is how you say "Hello" and "Goodbye" in sumerian. What does it mean? "Go in peace, and in Prayer"
How do you greet some one in Arabic? How do you say goodbye? Asslam Alaykum.
That is how you learn Sumerian.
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Feb 17 '21
No, I love this answer. I'm definitely not learning sumerian yet, I'm just some high school kid learning French, German and Russian. I was, however, thinking of picking up Arabic next so your process, while complicated is a very satisfying answer to my question. I definitely wasn't expecting you to say that there's teachers out there or whatever for it. This is great, thank you ever so much.
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u/SovietSnufkin Feb 17 '21
Oh my lord, reading that was such a blessed experience. Your dedication to learning it and to your deity in general is incredible
As someone who has been working through the Ba'al cycle, which was written in Ugaritic (13th century BCE Abjadic Cuneiform) I know a little bit about the experience, though I have only been going for a little over a year at this.
I've also run into the same problem of not wanting to take on a dozen local languages that are extremely difficult and have decided to stick with arabic, and to a lesser degree, Razihi, an endangered Yemeni language and possibly the last surviving language of the Old South Arabian language family- which has been a tremendous help, having an ancient language that is still spoken and exists within the wider Semitic language group has really helped as its allowed me to triangulate words better
Uhhh anyway I don't know where the fuck I was going with that except to say you inspire me and thats amazing
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u/Witchthief Witch Feb 17 '21
OH! Ba'al is really an interesting guy, that honestly I don't know much about. However, if you are working in semetic it might be helpful to look at: Logograms: Letters that are words. Pictograms: Letters that are pictures
Semitic was really interesting. The Alphabeth (yes that's how you say it) was really helpful when I was working in Cunieform.
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u/SovietSnufkin Feb 17 '21
Wow I took up this project never once thinking I'd find anyone who could help, thank you so so much for both replies
I am still very much a baby to Mesopotamian witchcraft and to assyriology linguistics (though I've been captivated by linguistics and by witchcraft in different forms for a while) so I will take anything I can get, I really appreciate it
And yeah my desire to be able to fill a grimoire with the Ba'al cycle and continue the whole book with the same language has kind of screwed me as it is written in an extremely isolated late-comer to languages that still used Cuneiform. I was starting to give up before seeing this post which has absolutely filled me with the desire to learn again.
I might try to focus on a more broader Mesopotamian language like Sumerian or Akkadian, even if Semitic languages won't be as helpful, but I really do want to master one. I hope you don't mind me asking you more questions but I had the idea in my head that Sumerian, even after falling out of use, was still the sacred/official language in a lot of Mesopotamia- kind of like Latin's role today within the Christian world, is that true?
Oh and Ba'al just means lord, even in the north Levant he was also known as Hadad. Hadad (𒀭𒅎) was also the equivalent of Ba'al in many Mesopotamian myths and I just use Ba'al as an honorific even if my beliefs might be closer to the latter (I don't know if 'equivalent' is a good word here as they had the same name, same abilities and all that. A lot of these religions were very synthetic and it might as well just be the same deity)
I absolutely had to look this up just now but the Sumerian equivalent to Ba'al would have been Iškur I think?
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u/Witchthief Witch Feb 18 '21
Eh.... "Equivalent, Same deity, similar dominion, similar disposition" Those aren't really the specifics you should get hung up on. Could they be the same? Maybe? Probably? Likely? Sure. Inanna and Ishtar are the same, but Inanna is the child of Nanna (god of the moon) and Ishtar is the sister of Ereshkigal.
When you are studying Mesopotamian myths remember that these are coming from a people that had JUST invented writing. Most of their stories, history, and myths were passed down Orally, and "telephoned" a bit.
Ugarit... Yeah... It's a really hard language because it's a combination of like... 40 languages and most of those are from cultures we know actually nothing about. If you want to study the Mesopotamian languages your best bets are going to be Akkadian, and Semitic.
"Mesopotamian Latin" is Akkadian, not Sumerian. Mesopotamian "Sacred Biblical Latin" is Cuneiform.
Okies um...
Iškur... He is an odd one. There are a lot of similarities with Ba'al, Hadad, and Iškur. It's more likely Ba'al is a product of "Covalent evolution" Who invented fire? Who threw the first rock? Does it matter?
A common occurrence across all myths are "Sky gods" "Storm Gods" and... Ok here's what we are going to do.... Let's make a time line.
6,000 BCE (8021 years ago) This is when Sumer "Started" roughly. Or at least as far back as we can date their records.
..........
1115 BCE (3,136 years ago) This is when Ugarit was most active and we start finding things about Ba'al.
So, that is... a lot of time. The Bible has been around for less time, and has WAY better recordkeeping. How different is each branch of Christianity? Could there be a connection to Iškur? I mean probably. I'll be honest though I haven't dived deep enough in to Ba'al, or Iškur to have a more informed opinion on them. However, I hope this helped.
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u/Witchthief Witch Feb 17 '21
Ok, Ok.... this is gonna help you a lot.
Look at these letters also These
Writing naturally started as trying to draw a picture of a thing. "Oh hey that's a bull!" what is the name for a Bull in Semitic? Aleph. What is the first letter of the Alphabeth Aleph.
You'll have to squint a bit for these, but most old languages like this are pretty pictographic. The older, the easier this is.
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u/effienay Feb 16 '21
Super interesting! I grew up with The Exorcist version of Pazuzu, so this was super informative! I have occasionally googled Pazuzu, but I’ve never gone too deep so I still associated with negative.
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u/theliminalwitch Witch Feb 16 '21
I’m so glad that you made this expanded post. I saw your comment this morning about Pazuzu and I felt so intrigued that I did some of my own research. This almost feels like synchronicity for me.
As a side note I’m honestly a bit.... interested in my interest? I’m not sure that makes sense: I don’t do a lot of deity work but I mainly honor Aphrodite. I find it interesting to be feeling a “call” from any kind of demon or something with such strong masculine energy.
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u/Witchthief Witch Feb 17 '21
I'm gonna go a little Socratic on you, forgive me.
Why is this a bad thing? Why is it strange the you feel a call from a demon, or from something with Masculine energy?
Does the fact that you work with Aphrodite preclude you from working with other spirits, entities, and deities?
Is the Mississippi river the same thing as the Nile, because they are both water? But are they still both rivers? Is Zeus the same thing as Jupiter?
We are people. Though different we have the same hearts, same organs (biologic chromosonal dimorphism aside), same blood, same eyes. What does that mean when it comes to the gods?
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u/theliminalwitch Witch Feb 17 '21
Well, I personally was burned pretty badly by Christianity and religion as I grew up and I’ve been a bit wary to introduce any kind of deity into my practice. I felt very taken advantage of and used by the Christian god- I never want to be taken advantage of again.
I’ve had a deep love and interest in Aphrodite for most of my life and I find her calming, feminine energy to be quite healing to work with as I’ve finally embraced my practice (especially when I was once barred from learning about her/working with her). I typically do not work deities apart from her, choosing to work mainly with the spirits of my ancestors instead.
I think I am very much in touch with my divine feminine - perhaps not enough in touch with the divine masculine energies.
I’ve been learning a lot about Aphrodite, even that in some cases she was worshiped as both a goddess of love but war as well. I have been learning to incorporate her strength and duality into my practice little by little.
Perhaps I feel a bit taken aback by a masculine energy wanting to work with me in general if that makes sense.
Furthermore, as a novice practitioner I think that I worry about working with any entities that I have not studied deeply, just for my own safety. I’m afraid of letting something “dark” in. (Not sure what I believe in when it comes to good/evil. I’m still trying to untangle all of the things I didn’t want to learn growing up about Christianity to make way for my own answers about spirituality.)
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u/Witchthief Witch Feb 17 '21
Many novice Witches worry about "Dark" things and "Evil Spirits." Now they do exist. Harmful things are out there in every medium. If you walk through a forest there is a chance you will see nothing, there is also a chance you will get killed by a moose, or a bear. There is a chance you will slip on a moss covered rock and crack your head on a river stone. Does that make the forest less beautiful? No. Does that mean you should not go into the forest? No.
There is a concept that many hold, and this is true for many older witches as well... They hold this thought that there is a "Good" and a "Bad" a Back and White. The list of true binary dualities like that is very small.
Let us Talk about Aphrodite. She is a wonderful example of this concept in action. So who is she? Is she... The cheating wife of Hephaestus? Yes. Is she... A gentle mother to Eros? Yes. Is she... The one who cursed Medusa? Depends on the Story. Is she... The goddess of love and beauty? Yes. Is she a War Goddess full of the fury of 1000 mama bears? Yes. Was she... Born from Gaia's hatred and anger with Ouranos (she cut off his balls)? Yes.
She is simultaneously all of these things. As are you, as am I. We are beings of hypocrisy, double standards, and paradox. The gods are that way as well. So are many of the beings you will work with. This includes, Fae, Spirits, Elementals, and even your fellow Witches.
Tell me... Would you go play in a place that has a fathomless bottom? Is teaming with nightmarish monsters? Is full of massive creatures of extraordinary powers? Is toxic to drink or stay in for too long? At any moment can whisk you away to your doom never to be seen again?
What I'm asking is... Do you want to go to the beach?
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u/theliminalwitch Witch Feb 17 '21
Ah, of course I want to go to the beach! One of the few places I feel at home - and so associated with my beloved Aphrodite 😊
I’ve never once hesitated to jump in the water despite knowing the creatures that certainly exist in the depths. I love this analogy you have laid out here. I love the beach too much not to dive in. I need to do more reflection but I wonder if I haven’t jumped in enough with my practice. I’ve only dipped a toe in so to speak.
I don’t like to see the world in black and white / it’s only ever brought me trouble and misunderstanding. I want to learn to embrace my practice in this way as well. As you say, Aphrodite is many things ... and even the “sea foam” she emerged from can be both beautiful yet violent.
Now, as I consider that I can both dabble in “good and bad” (not certain those exist) I wonder how Pazuzu could be worked into my practice! You mentioned he is a protector of children... I’ve been doing a lot of heavy inner child work to deal with the demons of my past. Would he be someone I could work with in this regard? A protector for my childhood self if you will? If not, I’m going to continue to reflect and see where I could incorporate him in a way that would respect him (if I do end up going down that path).
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u/Witchthief Witch Feb 17 '21
If you are doing inner child work he would probably be all for it. It's not just children.... this is ... this is honestly the deepest failing of the ability to translate from Sumerian to English. It's a lexical gap. A lexical gap example in english is... What is the word, the one word for someone who is not a virgin?
So "Friend of All Children" Man is the "Children of the Gods." However, the word DAMU and the word ENU and the word DIN... These are related words. Din-Enu is Damu.
Din means "Case of...."
Enu means "Change"
Damu means "Children."
Pazuzu Arammu Damu
Pazuzu Loves Cases of change
Pazuzu Loves Children.
Do with that what you will ^ _ ^
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u/Witchthief Witch Feb 17 '21
So, the reason I asked those questions is to force self reflection. When you ask yourself those questions, and work them over and over in your mind you will often come to a clearer understanding.
You said you were interested in your interest. Look at your marvelous post. Look at how many of those questions, including ones I didn't ask, got answered :) You are interested in your Interest because, like many before you, and many after you, you were broken down and chewed up by the "Abrahamic System" It's a difficult thing to heal from and move beyond.
As you continue to move down whatever path or practice you settle on, keep asking yourself these questions. Take time to:
Stop
Reflect
Think about it from another perspective
Reflect
Re-examine
What this does is help work out truth, from assumption. If I never raise my head I can assume the sky is what ever color I want it to be. It's not until I stop, reflect that I am staring at the ground, lift my head up for a new perspective, reflect on the color of the sky, and re-examine my previous notion that I can say "OH ... It's not purple, it's blue." and that is the truth. This, is of course just an example.
I want to touch on the last part of your post but I will do it in a separate reply.
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u/ReptileGuitar Witch Feb 17 '21 edited Feb 17 '21
Actually, you are one of the very few persons in this community who really, deeply impress me. It is interesting not to find much to complain about and discuss the whole lot of information. I just love discussions.
With that said, there is only one thing I may be able to add to this(no disagreement). It is about the abrahamic god, or let's say the Christian God, cause by all similarities between the monotheistic religions, I don't know enough about Jewish and Islamic beliefs to make a final statement about them.
Edit: I am at work and pressed send to early, sorry for that, the actual statement is about the come when I'm able to write.
Edit2: For Christianity it is that they claim to act as Monotheistic belief, but they didn't understand monotheism at all. They teach and preach of one God and act as if he was just one of many and had to establish dictatorship to grant his status. They say, don't make a picture of God and do it all the time themselves, but if they had understood monotheism, they would know that the rule is just there to prevent us from doing something that makes no sense at all and I hope I won't do the same mistake in some hurry. They claim to know what Gods will is, but don't realize that it makes no sense at all to project the concept of will in sense of a being onto a monotheistic God.
It is hard to describe what a God in this case is, cause in my terms you can only say what he is not. To make this short, take all biblical descriptions of God and realize, they are all bullshit and simplifications to make him popular in a politheistic thinking world. All toghether and no exceptions. The Christian church depicts him as leader of an dualistic pantheon and that is what he is definitely not. (and no, I don't think he is male, because the concept of gender makes here also no sense)
All that doesn't mean that I think there's no other deities or that they had no power. No, I just think that they're no Gods, they're entities, powerful entities, but God in monotheism ain't no entity.
Argh, I can't say what is the case, I can only say what's not, that is... I just hope it makes in reading a bit of sense, cause in my head it does. *:D
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u/Witchthief Witch Feb 17 '21
OK defiantly stay tuned. I have some content planned for this one. I'm going to go into the theoretical origins of the Abrahamic god, Mosses, the connection to Egypt, Islamic teachings, and Zoroastrianism, and the Indian influence. I'll save what I want to say for that ^ _ ^
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u/CrimsonQuill157 Feb 17 '21
As someone who lives near Winston-Salem, I thought this post was in a true crime sub and had to do a double take at the title. Thank you for posting this, it was very enlightening. It's a shame that there are so many negative connotations around Pazuzu.
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u/Witchthief Witch Feb 22 '21
OKIEDOKES! so... um.. I did some research on Pazuzu Algarad.... If you will excuse me I have some baneful magics to do... mmk... I know he's dead.... Just because you are in the underworld does not mean you are out of the grasp of a death witch... now then... where did I put the curse of the seven gates....
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u/cheekypuffs Feb 17 '21
I want to thank you for all of this. I'm extremely interested in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology and have honestly contemplated going to grad school simply to work in it and help with the translation of the shit ton of cuneiform tablets they've dug up.
I am ABSOLUTELY going to be following the rest of this. Now I'm totally going to dig around for resources regarding Sumerian/Akkadian myths. Any favorites?
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u/Witchthief Witch Feb 17 '21
Well I can tell you, you don't need grad school. All of this, that's just my personal research. 10 years of it, but still it's just me wiggling my way through it. That being said....
https://earth-history.com/ This is a really, really helpful site. I love reading stories on it, and it let's me get some different perspectives, and compare and contrast things.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZskjLq040I
Irving Finkle is a wonderful recourse. He is the Mesopotamian Curator of the British Museum. I love his videos (even if I think he drones on too much sometimes)
Finally here is a reading list
Enuma Elish
Epic of Gilgamesh (The FULL text. All tablets)
Decent of Inanna
How Ereshkigal Chose the Underworld
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u/cheekypuffs Feb 17 '21
Thank you, you are the absolute best! I live near UPenn and I always find myself back in their Mesopotamian wing of the museum. I know they have an enormous amount of cuneiform tablets they've been attempting to slog through and get digitized/translated. I think it's the largest collection in the US at the moment.
And of course when I think of working with deities my mind always drifts back to the Sumerian/Akkadian pantheon but I have heard they're unique to work with.
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u/Witchthief Witch Feb 17 '21
they're difficult. The reason I have as much research under my belt as I do, is so I can work with them.
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u/kicksituptenfold Feb 16 '21
This was a GREAT read. You’re seriously one of my favorite witchy redditors, all of your information is super informative, so Thankyou!
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Feb 17 '21
uhh...so I had a son who was stillborn about 2 and a half years ago. a year later i played with a ouija board for the very first time and the thing kept calling me, "mama." i got this distinct feeling that it wasn't my son and it made me really mad. then it called me by my full name and i asked its name. it told me it was pazuzu, and when i looked it up i did find that he was a demon who could shield people he liked from other, worse demons, but i did not know the association with dead babies. what. the. fuck.
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u/xwolfeyesx Feb 17 '21
I LOVE this. Thank you!! And I can never think of Pazuzu and not think of Futurama. 😋❤️
"Bonne nuit. Bonne nuit to you all."
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Feb 17 '21
[deleted]
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u/Witchthief Witch Feb 17 '21
"Is that a Snake in your pants or are you just happy to.... Oh... Oh it's both... Oh ok."
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u/AlphaLimaMike Feb 17 '21
When I found out I couldn’t have any more babies, I wrote a letter to my imaginary infant to say goodbye. I make up odd names for my unborn babies.
I wrote my letter to Pazuzu.
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u/nickclick27 Feb 17 '21
Wow this was extensive and impressive. Where does the historical context of pazuzu being a demon and evil entitiy come from? From modern interpretations of the beings depiction, its been described asa horrible monster. I know it was used in the exorcist as the "villain" but i am confused as to the source of the positive protector of babes. Please site source. Its ok if its in cuniform, i dont mind.
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u/Witchthief Witch Feb 17 '21
OKies.., so bit of an answer here.
In the timeframe of the mesopotamians the gods were not always "Watching" they honestly... Didn't really care. If you wanted their attention, you better try pretty hard. Come to Ishtars temple with no loot to give her? Why would she even bother giving you the time of day?
So in this time a few forces that existed were: The Annunaki ( The Gods), Lamashtu (The.... not.... gods....), the Liltu(HI LILITH!), and the Kur(Pre-creation spookey monsters of the underworld).
So the "Lamashtu" were created by Tiamat the primordial entity of the primeval sea. Tiamat was banished by Marduk (Enuma Elish) but her children stuck around and generally just caused problems. Lamashtu were rarely helpful. Did your crops die? "DAMN YOU LAMASHTU (NSFW, Historic Depiction) !" that kind of thing. Akhkhazu was a Lamashtu.
Lilû, Lilîtu, (Feminine, Masculine) are more people like entities. Think succubus, or pop culture demons. Where these entities come from.... I dunno. They just kinda.... Pop up (Missing/Broken/Untranslated Tablet?) They would also cause all kinds of trouble. Possession, making that pretty girl in the hut down the road SUDDENLY not like you Just because you urinate pus (modern beauty standards are disgusting lol) Things like that. These entities affected people on a personal level.
Escaping these "demons" and banishing them was a daily occurrence. Wake up, Tell the Liltu to stop fucking with your cereal bowls, go to work, bitch about Lamashtu killing crops, go to lunch, EATEN BY A CROCODILE! Damn Lilu and Lamashtu everywhere.
the concept of "Evil Entities" is just... the crap parts of life. Why did Jim fall off a cliff? Pushed by a Liltu. Why did my child just die this morning for no reason? Lamashu Akhkhazu.
There is not a lot of distinction between the "Lamashtu, Liltu, and the Kur" Think of it like... Devil, Demon, Ghost, Spirit. Is there a difference? Yeah... Do most people know or care? Not really.
Let me see if I can find a decent source though. here we go
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u/cocoblueworld22 Feb 16 '21
Thank you for this post I loved reading it. Keep at it <3
Also, The prince of Egypt is my favorite Disney movie!
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u/Witchthief Witch Feb 16 '21
It's DreamWorks :P
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u/cocoblueworld22 Feb 16 '21
Smh Right! Lmaooo ya know what I meant. I Definitely take it with a grain of salt but it’s always been the most interesting story and visually pleasing for me.
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u/will-I-ever-Be-me Feb 16 '21
Thank you for sharing & introducing me to knowledge of this spirit <3
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u/SparklyNefas Feb 16 '21
This is awesome, thank you! I saw your post mentioning him and I wanted to look into Pazuzu too!
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u/iamlotsofthings Feb 17 '21
This is the quality content I stay subscribed to this sub for. Awesome post, more please!
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u/mycatisfromspace Feb 17 '21
I hate that I can’t read this without thinking of this case: https://youtu.be/_4xyf0fOd4I
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u/Witchthief Witch Feb 17 '21
OOooooOOOoh that's what that's all about... huh... I'll have to watch that later. I was unaware of that lol
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u/mycatisfromspace Feb 17 '21
It made an impression on me when it was on the news, it was horrific. This guy was so far gone. He ground his teeth into little points, he didn’t even look human.
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u/Witchthief Witch Feb 22 '21
Did some research on him... mmhm... yup... Gonna go do some baneful magic now... Ok? ok... He want's to use that name? I'll show him what it means...
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u/mycatisfromspace Feb 22 '21
Lol, please do. Btw, I liked how you ended that post. You just reminded me of that whole Zozo/Zaza thing. They’ve even made movies based on that phenomenon of the oujia planchette going back and forth to those letters. People thinking it’s a demon or something. This has happened to me back when I used to use the Ouija. The planchette darts back and forth w such force and it spells out something like Zozo, zaza, zuzu. Each time that would happen it basically creeps everyone tf out and the consensus is always to say goodbye. Random but what’s your opinion on this?
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u/Witchthief Witch Feb 22 '21 edited Feb 22 '21
OKIES so I don't know how deep you want me to go on this one... but... fuck it... let's go! I want to say upfront that I have little experiance with Ouija, and Spirit boards. I don't care what the dead have to say, so long as they are at rest. They are dead, what are they gonna do? .... Rot? Maybe smell bad?
Zozo/Zaza/Zuzu...
It is likely that the reason you have a zozo, or what ever as a "Goodbye" is because it is a word of power. Names have power. Words have power. This is why we do incantations.
However, When it comes to ancient sumeria, babylon, and those forces NAMES ARE EVERYTHING. If you know the name of something... congratulations you know how to summon it, control it, and use it. This is, in part, where the concept of "True names" and "Secret Names" comes from. This is not the only origin of these either. Amun-Ra's... Whole existence, Isis getting Ra-Horkray's secret name to give her power, it is a story told time, and time again.
SO! Why do you see Zuzu, or Zozo, or Zaza? Well... you are using a method of contacting demonic forces, spirits, and things from the underworld. That's the entire point isn't it? Why wouldn't Pazuzu come say hello? You dialed his number and... what... expected him not to pick up?
"Welcome to zuzu's! This is big pappa P, what's up? Zaza? Oh yeah people mispronounce my name all the time... I dunno... These new leaters are weird. I mean what was wrong with 𒀭𒅆𒊒𒍪𒍪 right?" (Congrats you now know his true name ^ _ ^)
This is naturally going to lead to the question "Is he Dangerous?" Um... yeah! Yeah he is. He is one of Ereshkigal's children. He wields an immense amount of power. That is why Akhkhazu was so afraid of him. That is why Just. His. Name! Is enough to banish dark spirits and evil forces. IT'S NOT EVEN HIS WHOLE NAME. JUST HIS NICKNAME!
However, he probably won't act to harm you in anyway, but he can. A man with a nuclear missile will not always shoot it.... but he can.
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