Get rid of the dreams

The victim confirms a relationship between himself and the clod of earth. Once he tells the contents of his dream to it, he then utters three maledictions. The first is a simile curse. It affirms and establishes the function of the clod’s disintegration. This is followed by two unconditional maledictions. One focuses on dissolution (naḫarmuṭu). The second centers on removing the evil to a distant place. Then, the victim tosses the clod into the water. The full and complete execution of these imprecations is clearly dependent on the discharge of the curse-act itself. Certainly, the victim cannot hope for release from his nightmares until he throws the clod into the water. One also suspects that the victim gains additional comfort from actually watching the clod break apart as the current sweeps away the dissipated earth.

Some of these dream rituals require the use of a specific type of clay. LAG IZ.ZI ša2 AŠ/ina dUTU.ŠU2.A ‘A clod which is from a western (that is, facing the setting sun Šamaš/dUTU]) wall’. LAG ša KA2 pi-ḫe-e TI-qi2 ‘You take a clod from a blocked door’. The officiant of these rituals chooses each of these clays for their unique properties. The first kind of clay is connected with nonexistence and the daily disappearance of Šamaš. Once the clod is thrown into the water, its dissipating particles are to take the nightmares into the underworld with the setting sun. The clay from a blocked door has already demonstrated its propensity to impede and thereby keep things at bay. This characteristic is to merge with the evil dreams so as to prevent them from returning to the victim.— Cursed Are You!, page 442