The Ashur Dream Ritual Compendium

One of the oldest and largest oneiromantic grimoires is found on the Neo-Assyrian cuneiform tablet KAR 252 inscribed by the apprentice scribe Nabu-shallim, excavated at the Library of Ashurbanipal, and translated as the “Ashur Dream Ritual Compendium” by Dr. Sally A. L. Butler in Mesopotamian Conceptions of Dreams and Dream Rituals.

KAR 252

The “Ashur Dream Ritual Compendium,” or ADRC, is a collection of primarily apotropaic spells for dispelling the evil effects of bad dreams, which might be caused by demons, ghosts, or the anger of the dreamer’s personal deity, as well as some spells to incubate favorable dreams. Some of these spells are also found in the first and last tablets of the famed Assyrian interpretation manual, the Iskar Zaqiqu. Structurally, the spells typically contain an incantation formula to be recited as well as instructions for ritual actions. Many of the spells in the ADRC deploy techniques found in later oneiromantic texts, whether in other ancient cultures, medieval folklore, or even modern dreamwork, making it a prime place to investigate the origins of dream magic.

The incantations in the ADRC are primarily prayers to gods of light such as Sin, Shamash (Utu), Girra (Gibil), and Nusku; gods of fate and magic like Ninlil, Marduk, and Ea; the dream gods Mamu, Zaqiqu, and Anzagar; and the caster’s personal god or goddess. These incantations are specified as ŠU.ÍL.LÁ-incantations, which are petitions to the deity recited with raised hands, and which extol the powers of the deity and/or ask the deity to judge the dream favorably.

For example, the incantation of spell III.4-17 contains a number of phrases common across the ADRC:

“O Shamash, you are the judge! Judge my case!
You are the maker of the oracular decision(s)! You are the maker of the oracular decision(s) concerning me!
Turn the dream which I saw into good luck!
May I prosper! May I obtain a friend!
O Shamash, may the event(s) of my day(s) be favorable!
O Shamash, may the event(s) of my month(s) be favorable!
[It] is the spell (lit., knot) for dissolving a bad dream.
You recite this ŠU.ÍL.LÁ-incantation before Shamash. It (the evil of the dream) will be dissolved.

The god’s answer was typically requested in the form of an egirrû or oracular utterance—typically a word or phrase overheard during the daytime. The reading of waking events as a response to dreamed questions appears to be an example of incubated synchronicity, the concept named by Carl Jung to describe acausal symbolic occurrences. Taking synchronistic events as answers to a dream is discussed by some modern dreamwork authors, and reverses the standard approach to dream interpretation where dreamed events are taken as symbolic responses to the day.

Ritually, the ADRC spells contain a number of actions that accompany the incantation and are performed either as offerings to the deities, to ward off the evil effect of the dream, or to dispel the dream through transference to a substitute object.

Offerings that are frequently found in the ADRC and other Mesopotamian oneiromantic texts include scattering cheap scented flour, sprinkling pure water, sprinkling a lump of salt on a piece of plaster from the wall, wrapping a thorn from a date palm in wool dipped in oil to be used as a wick, lighting a lamp, setting a table with loaves of bread or a confection made of honey and ghee, libating vinegar and first-class beer, and burning a censor of juniper. Juniper appears to have been a common offering to Mesopotamian gods for dreams, and is also found in the Underworld Vision of an Assyrian Prince, a katabatic narrative in which prince Kumma incubates a dream to Ereshkigal in order to journey to the underworld, and does so by burning juniper incense. The use of incense to incubate dreams is also found in medieval grimoires such as the Sepher Raziel and was also used by W. B. and George Yeats as part of their oneiromantic experiments.

A number of other ritual acts found in the ADRC are to be performed immediately on waking, possibly as a means of stalling bringing the evil of the dream into the day. These include placing a moistened dressing on the forehead, anointing the dreamer with cypress oil, not placing a foot on the floor, not eating food, washing the hands with soap while still in bed, or turning to the other side of the bed from the side you woke up on. In an alternative ritual act in spell II.58-III.3, instead of staying completely in bed the dreamer places their left foot on the bed and their right foot on the floor while reciting the incantation. Changes to the sleeper’s posture is also a common way of dispelling nightmares found in medieval folklore, while fasting in order to prevent the outcome of a dream was a common method in Judaic dream magic.

Nambúrbi rituals were a popular form of Mesopotamian apotropaic magic which involved sympathetically transferring the evil of a dream or other omen to a substitute object or acting it out symbolically. In the ADRC, these typically involve telling the bad dream to an object that is then disposed of so that its evil will not affect the dreamer. These substitute objects include a reed that is burned in a fire, grains of the atāišu-plant thrown in a fire, pieces of a reed bound in the hem of the dreamer’s garment, washing the hands in water, or the most common is a clod (or several pellets) of clay or salt that is either thrown into a river to dissolve or scattered at the crossroads. The clod is frequently taken from some liminal area, such as from the wall, from near a closed door, from the wastelands.

Spell I.79-II.18 contains an incantation addressed to the clod that details the sympathetic process of transferring a dream:
 

Incantation: “[O Clod!] O Clod, in the part of you (which) is pinched off, part of me is pinched off
(and) in the part of me (which) is pinched off (is) [your] pinched off piece.
O Clod, the evil of the dream which I saw, which I repeatedly saw (during) the first watch (of the night), the middle watch, (or) the third watch — (in) which I saw my dead father; (or in) which I saw my dead mother;
(or in) <which I saw> a god; (or in) which I saw the king; (or in) which I saw an important person; (or in) which I saw a prince; (or in) which I saw a dead person; (or in) which I saw a living person;
(or in) which I saw/experienced knowledge (of something) I did not know/understand; (or in) which I went to an unknown land; (or in) which I repeatedly ate unknown bread;
(or in) which I was dressed in an unfamiliar garment” — 
He reports to the clod as many dreams as he saw. Then he says:
“Just as I will throw you (O Clod) into the water, and
you will be soaked, you will disintegrate, [you] will be fragmented, (with the result that) you will not return to your place (i.e., become a clod again);
(So) may the evil of this dream which [I] saw be thrown into the water just like you!
May it be soaked! May it disintegrate! May it be fragmented! [May it not return] to its place (i.e., return to me)!
May it cross the river! May it cross over the mountain! May it (be) detach(ed) from me! May it […..]!
May it ascend to heaven like smoke! May it be as unable to return (lit., not return) to its place [as] as uprooted tamarisk!
May the tamarisk purify me! May the maštakal-plant absolve me!
May the ‘offshoot’ of the date palm purify me! May the river receive (the evil of the dream) from me!
May (the river) give its aura to me, and may it carry off [the evil]! O Shamash, (regarding) the dream which I saw,
May it be favorable! O Shamash, may the dream which I saw be reliable!
O Shamash, turn the dream which I saw into good luck!”
Its ritual: You recite the (above) incantation three times over either a lump of salt or over a lump of clay.
You throw (the lump) into the river (E: water). The evil of the dream will not come near to the man.

Nambúrbi could also be used to incubate a favorable dream, for instance spell IV.38-41 includes the ritual praxis: “You recite the (above) incantation three times over (a piece of) ēru-wood. You place (the wood) at your head (when lying down) (A: at the head of your bed). You tie a (piece of) atāišu-plant to your hem. You lie down, and you will see a favorable dream.” This may be the first clear example of what I term subpulvinar or under-the-pillow magic, in which an intent or representation for a desired dream is placed by the bed or under the pillow. Subpulvinar magic is the oldest and most consistently practiced technique of oneiromancy, found in other ancient cultures, numerous medieval grimoires, the Yeatses’ occult dream mediumship, and is even still recommended in modern dreamwork books.

Other rituals involve making clay figurines, either to represent the evil source of the dream, or of the dreamer’s personal deity called a massar šulme u balāti, which is placed for protection by the head of the dreamer. For example, spell II.19-23 contains the ritual praxis: 

“You make four clay figurines, male and female. You recite the (above) incantation over (them) seven times. (Then) you place (them) at your head (when lying down).” 

These figurines were typically made from clay, wax, or tallow, with tamarisk, cedar, and linseed; were roughly anthropomorphic and had the demon’s name written on its left shoulder blade; and were destroyed in a manner similar to namburbi rituals or were buried. A similar practice is found in ancient Egypt, where figurines of the protective dwarf god Bes were placed by the head of the dreamer or carved into the headrest.

The ADRC also contains instructions for making leather charm bags or stone necklaces that can also be used to ward off bad dreams, and lists a large number of specific materials that can be used for their apotropaic powers (many of which have not effectively been identified). These materials include: the seeds or pieces of various plants such as lupin, thyme, tamarisk, the būšānu-plant, pieces of the atāišu-plant, elikulla-plant, nikiptu-plant, imhur-līm-plant, harmanu-plant, ēdu-plant, imbû tâmati, ‘the white plant,’ ‘the man-like’ plant, ‘the dog’s tongue’ plant, the qān šalāli-reed, ašlu-rush; minerals such as grains of emesallu-salt, black and yellow sulfur, pieces of iron, silver, gold, ‘male’ copper, ebony powder, magnetite, alum, jasper, carnelian, lapis lazuli, black and green obsidian, the sahhû-stone, the bāltu-stone, the lamassu-stone, or even colored glass beads and fired stones as a substitute for precious gems; as well as an ostrich egg-shell, an ajartu-shell, and a green frog. Many modern dreamworkers continue to discuss the use of herbs and gemstones for dreaming, typically placed sub pulvino in a sachet.