Incantation & Exorcism (the Āšipu's Craft)
The exorcist read the unseen cause of your suffering — then bound, burned, or banished it by the word.
Also: incantation · exorcism · ashipu · āšipu · Shurpu · Maqlu · magic · ritual healing · witchcraft
When affliction was traced to a god's anger, a demon, a ghost, or witchcraft, the specialist who intervened was the ashipu, the exorcist-healer. He diagnosed the unseen cause and performed structured rituals — reciting incantations, manipulating symbolic objects, transferring the evil onto a substitute to be burned or cast away. Great ritual series addressed specific evils: Shurpu and Maqlu against sin and sorcery, others against ghosts or Lamashtu. Often the exorcist worked alongside the physician (asu) with his herbs. Incantation was a learned craft, grounded in the wisdom of Enki/Ea, aimed at restoring a person to wholeness and divine favor.
In short
The healing-protective discipline of the exorcist (āšipu) — diagnosing the supernatural cause of affliction and removing it through incantation and ritual (e.g. the Šurpu and Maqlû series against sin and witchcraft).
Where it’s found
Sumerian grounding rests on the gallû-demon material in 'Inana's descent to the nether world' (ETCSL 1.4.1, in corpus) and scattered Sumerian/bilingual incantation language; NO flagship Sumerian incantation series is among our 394 ETCSL titles. The great serialized ritual collections Šurpu, Maqlû and Udug-ḫul are Akkadian and akkadian-pending (Reiner, Šurpu; Abusch, Maqlû)
How the idea developed across Sumer, Babylon & Assyria
The great ritual series (Šurpu, Maqlû, Udug-ḫul) are organized and serialized in the first millennium (Akkadian), though incantation is among the oldest attested genres (early Sumerian and bilingual incantations). The āšipu (exorcist) and asû (physician) are complementary, not opposed. Ea/Enki heads the exorcists' lore.