He is despised and forsaken by all; he is a Man of Sorrows weighed down by grief.

That is, perhaps, a somewhat depressing thing to say…but! I didn’t say it, so don’t blame me. Well, I did say it, but I didn’t say it first. No, Isaiah, the Most Regal of the Prophets, was the one who said it first. And that, or so I think, puts me in good company. And there can be no doubt that the Man of Sorrows is one of the most sublime images in all of human history. Still, I must boldly declare…

I’m not my keeper’s brother!

Wait, that’s wrong…I’m not my brother’s keeper. Cain and Abel…a very famous, yet tragic rivalry. Both ultimately, like matter and anti-matter, could not inhabit the same universe at the same time. And so it goes, well…sometimes…with brothers.

That said, some kids are only kids…

 And…oh my!

That’s quite a collection you’ve got there, Toots!

Where was I? Oh, yes! Other kids are lots of kids…

And…

And…

Still, there are plenty of brothers, not just Cain and Abel, who didn’t get along so good…

…Romulus and Remus. The universe couldn’t hold the both of them…so Romulus decided to give the universe a helping hand and rid it of Remus. Lesson? Don’t jump over your brother’s walls! Here’s a couple of twins that, likewise, couldn’t exist at the same time…

…yes, two king basket-heads! Assur-bani-pal and his twin brother Shamash-shum-ukin. And the Assyrian empire was simply too small a piece of real estate to avoid a massive civil war in the end. Assyria? Ah, yes! The favorite stomping grounds of a pervasive little wind daemon we all know and love. Well, Daddy tried to avoid a civil war by making Assur-bani-pal Crown Prince of Assyria, and his twin, Shamash-shum-ukin, was made Crown Prince of Babylon. Despite the might of Assyria, Babylonia became the ancient version of Vietnam, or Afghanistan…depending on whether you’re Soviets, Americans or…Americans. Rebels among the local nobility of the Holy City Babylon created constant problems, and the Chaldeans…the Swamp People, backed by the Elamites, ensured there would be no peace as long as the Assyrians claimed the right to rule Babylonia. A noble idea it was to put two Assyrian princes…twins…over each part of the empire. And it did last for a while…but there can’t be two kings, at the same time, in the end.

Perhaps even less known is the rivalry between…

Caracalla and Geta, sons of the vicious emperor Septimius Severus. At first, they, like Assur-bani-pal and Shamash-shum-ukin, ruled together. But one is more than two, or so thought Caracalla, who had his brother murdered. And did Caracalla get away with such a heinous crime unpunished by the gods? No, indeed! There are lots of ways to die if you’re the emperor. The best way would be…in battle, while crushing Rome’s enemies! That is the path to glory for a true soldier of Rome! But Caracalla died in the most embarrassing way of any Roman emperor. And although it is the truth, I nonetheless decided to put Caracalla in my Super-Duper Exorcist Jokebook, even though he didn’t land a single part in the movie. Still, Regan found it funny, I should say, and since the fictional publishers of my fictional Super-Duper Exorcist Jokebook sponsored the fictional short feature film shown below, I will get a little fictional advertising in a moment.

And yet another pair of brothers reduced to fisticuffs was that of the ancient Klingon Kahless and Morath. Of course, some brother pairs didn’t try to kill each other, they just settled for enduring enmity…

Jacob and Esau. And their illustrious forerunners…

…Ishmael and Isaac.  “You’re a poo-poo head!” “Am not! You are!” “I said you were, first!”

Yet other brother-brother teams seemed to have tolerated each other well enough!

We all remember the Gibb brothers, known as the Bee Gees. And for those of you who really dig hard rock…

…there’s always Eddie and Alex Van Halen. And perhaps the brothers who stood by each other from birth to death are the less well known…

…Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, the two champions of the Roman plebs whose struggle against the Senatorial Elite formed Part One of the Great Roman Social Wars. They were followed by the Not-Brothers Gaius Marius vs. Sulla, Julius Caesar vs. Pompey, and then, finally deciding the matter for over a thousand years…Octavian vs. Anthony…also not brothers. But the Gracchi never wavered in their nigh-eternal partnership.

And another pair of allied brothers, far more diabolical of course, were…

…The Shape and Michael Myers. In a two-part raving lunatic essay that could only appear on raving lunatic website such as this one…A Singular Purpose, I forwarded my view that in the 1978 classic film Halloween, there were actually two different killers at work, each wearing the same get-up and carrying similar knives, but who can be distinguished nonetheless by the strength, or weakness, of the guy killing whoever it is at the moment. And I’ve been told that I’m full of it on this point. So I thought I’d check with the officer who worked the case…

…did you say…they? Hmm. Doesn’t Laurie smell a little bit like…Before I finish that, I think I will check to see how truthful Chris MacNeil is! So…

Ok, I must admit that I shamefully used my film company to plug my new Super-Duper Exorcist Jokebook. But I’m not done yet! Remember my new nasal cannula and theatre concessions business I started? Well, how about this…

Hey, look! The popcorn’s almost done! And it’s so light and fluffy it could almost…

…float away!

Of course, if you’re a kid about to enter into puberty…

Regan MacNeil you stop that this instant!

A little privacy might be nice!

Oh, it’s not so funny when you’re the butt of the joke, huh?

And a word to the wise! Don’t let Burke Dennings babysit your daughter while there’s gin in the house…

…unless the bottle comes with a child-proof cap! Drink that slowly kiddo! After all, it kinda sneaks up on you.

And what happened when Dopey Doctor tried to take Regan’s temperature?

She got all steamed up about it!

Now Chris MacNeil isn’t the best driver in the world. So if you’re riding in the front seat with her…

…always wear your seatbelt!

This is the second series in a group of essays that I call, i.e. the group, that is…I Come From God. That designation isn’t used in the movie, but is one of the best things from the novel published in 1971. The entity possessing Regan uses this title for himself during the hypnotism scene. But it’s not the only one. The entity, which is not a demon, proudly declares that he is a…prince. And, as I argued in a two part essay about the book, one in which I offered my specific identification of Regan’s persecutor, who was, in fact, seeking vengeance primarily against Chris, the entity had actually been given the title of…prince…by Chris herself, the Pig Mother, who is, of course, different from the Honey Piglet. A plaque owned by Karras helped clarify things a bit, as we learn the motto…

 MY BROTHER HURTS. I SHARE HIS PAIN. I MEET GOD IN HIM. 

I have stated the opinion elsewhere that I am not a big fan of the novel, whereas the movie represents the highest achievement of all Artificial Realities created in a million different films. However, this motto is not only highly emotive, I have also identified it as one of the most important elements in understanding the real story in the novel. But not all gods are the same; and there are plenty of gods that one is justified in never wishing to meet.

I could do without meeting Rakshasa.

…or Aztec Tlazolteotl, She Who Brings Syphilis, the Dirt Eater…and no, she isn’t sporting a fancy nose ring; this is the representation of…I hope you’re not eating dinner…Divine Excrement. Offerings brought to her include excrement and, of course, urine, which was regarded as Liquid Gold. So! I will not be attending the Feast of Tlazolteotl this year. And it is truly a shame that the Editorial Board has just decided that the content of my jokebook has become a bit too edgy to be reproduced in all its glory on this website, though I will endeavor to sneak particularly funny jokes past them whenever I can. Still, as long as I use asterisks, I can quote any and all lines from The Exorcist with impunity. So I decided to test that by saying to the Editorial Board, with all due respect, you’re a bunch of… Co**suc***s! And now I will attempt to sneak a joke or two past them, although after my last pronouncement, which is really Regan’s pronouncement, I’m sure they don’t feel overly indulgent. Yet, I will try…

What do you call a summer rain storm at the temple of Tlazolteotl?

A golden…

Well, Sharon, what is this?
It’s an invitation.
To what?
The Festival of Tlazolteotl.
I see. Tell them to go eat…

Damn! That was going to be my best bad joke of all time. It is definitely true that modern artists have attempted to offer a more modernized graphic interpretation of various divine and semi-divine entities from antiquity. And I think they’re a lot of fun to look at. But, or so I thought, you couldn’t do much with someone who looked like…

But someone decided it was worth a shot!

Ok, guys, she’s kinda hot. But don’t let her cook for you! Surely in this case, the way to a man’s heart is not via his stomach. Actually, her objectionable dietary habits are, perhaps, purely symbolic. She is the Sin Eater, and her ultimate function is to produce purification by the consumption of that which causes defilement. This concept continued to exist into the 18th century. In Europe, there were men called Sin Eaters. And they were professionals. Upon the death of a beloved one, bread was placed on the deceased’s chest, and before the burial, a Sin Eater would eat the bread, thereby purifying the dearly departed of their sins.

And that may sound revoltingly disgusting! But in reality, the Sin Eater simply ate a meal. But, the downside was that the Sin Eater carried the deceased person’s sins with him throughout his life. But as far as…

…Tlazolteotl, or, as I call her when I’m having lunch with her…Tlazy, is concerned, I must tell you that all of you have encountered this Dear Lady before. And it may well be that someone was having a bit of fun at your Blissfully Unaware Expense. Who hasn’t seen this…

Yes! The golden idol that Indiana Jones sought to obtain. Now for…

…another representation of Tlazy. Of course…it belongs in a museum! And I wonder whether Tlozy knew Matshishkapeu, a strange spirit that she would probably have got along quite well with…the Innu Fart Spirit, someone all 8 year-old children will probably find enormously funny! He spoke to the Innu through the release of flatulence emanating from the back of their fronts, and all such “utterances” were interpreted to determine what “Fart Man” was trying to say.

Well, Sharon, what is this?
It’s an invitation.
To what?
The Festival of Matshishkapeu.
Really? What’s on the menu?
Apparently, lots and lots of beans. And they said they’d have an interpreter on hand.
I see. Tell them to blow out their…

Ok, I give up. For now!

This series of essays represent my final interpretative understanding of the The Exorcist…the film version, of course. However, different parts fall under different rubrics that are based around characters in the movie. I shall, unsuccessfully I’m sure, attempt to pull apart the threads of the Artificial Reality Tapestry in an attempt to isolate the different storylines that I find in the movie, only to then sow them back together again. The first part of this series is called…The Dreams of Avarice, which currently exists in episodes 1 and 2. Yes! Sharon Spencer! Yet other characters will get their own parts, including Father Merrin, Father Karras, Chris MacNeil, and Burke Dennings…the World Champion Gin Drinker. Other characters, less prominent although not less important, will also loom large…such as Dyer and Tom, President of Georgetown University…he who lobbies to ensure that Merrin and Karras end up in the same room at the same time, and…not so strangely, both of those men end up dead. Then there is Homicide Detective…Kindermann, who attempts to manipulate suspects by being less than honest with them. But what of this part? What of I Meet God in Him? Well, if you’ll stop distracting me with all of your digressions, I can make that clear to all and sundry.

And I will repeat at the outset that which I made clear in the introduction to The Dreams of Avarice…I have changed my opinion on a great many theories that are to be found all over this website. Perhaps the most important such change involves a very controversial and, as I now believe, wrong…understanding of what afflicts Regan. I no longer believe that Regan was the victim of sexual abuse. That interpretation was wrong, which explains why I no longer consider it…right. My new interpretation of the movie simply negates this theory, and instead builds upon a malady that is so clearly present in the movie that no one can see it. Hidden in plain sight! In the movie, there is only one case of sexual abuse, and…

…this is not it. I will deal with this part of the Crucifix Scene in another essay in this series called Condition Critical, in which I will analyze the strange presence of all the indications of in-home nursing care for Regan, and then the key elements of Regan’s situation prior to the exorcism that would appear to exclude the possibility that a private nursing service was being employed by Chris on behalf of her daughter. The use of the crucifix in this scene is, at the very least, something that Regan is doing to herself. But I will add as a passing observation my belief that what we see Regan doing here, with all the extreme trauma it would, if it were actually happening, cause, is not really what is happening within the Artificial Reality. What we see happening is what Chris sees happening…the only one in the house who is present in Regan’s room while Tlazolteotl’s favorite substance is hitting the fan. Where was I before I felt compelled to bring my gal-pal Tlazy back into the foreground? Oh, yes…the diabolical subject of sexual abuse, or, to be more precise, sexual assault…

Chris looks more worried than a connoisseur of gourmet food that accidentally wandered into a Tlazolteotl Banquet. Yes, the only sexual assault in the movie is the one Regan inflicts on Chris, not exactly a heart-warming mother-daughter moment.

Tektonikus said you better not make fun of Tlazy anymore!

And Regan’s not-so-tempting invitation…

Fuck me! Fuck me!

was declined by all present at the time. And the only person in the film using sexually abusive language was…

…Regan. I know a Little Girl In Big Trouble who’s in big trouble! So it is clear that the only sexual violence, physical or verbal, comes exclusively from Regan. In fact, my view now is that Regan never suffered any abuse of any kind in the movie. And as is well known, she dished out a great deal of physical violence. That said, I would add that in all instances where Regan clobbers someone, including Chris, Dopey Doctor, the Hypnotist, and Karras, there is a common element…at no point does Regan go chasing after someone to abuse. In all cases, the person who gets walloped has actually stepped up within striking distance. In another essay I will proffer a more-than-satisfactory explanation for these instances of physical violence, and the importance of the element they share in common...Directed Aggression. Ultimately, I will maintain that Regan is a highly-manipulative little girl who is willing to go to any lengths to keep what she decides is…hers. Chris will be important in this construct.

I have made so many references to Pazuzu on this website that it would seem that no more comments would add anything to what I have said before…Pazuzu saved pregnant women, women in childbirth, babies, and children from the horrific violence of his arch-enemy Lamashtu. That doesn’t make Pazuzu a “good guy.” And one thing that is true about daemons, particularly Pazuzu, is that they weren’t gods in the sense of major, cultic entities. The existence of statues is a good illustration of this, and particularly relevant in the first episode of my Re-think of the Man of Sorrows…father Merrin. I have noted elsewhere that Pazuzu heads, amulets consisting of the head and face of the daemon with a metallic loop that allowed it to be worn around the neck, have been found in abundance. Actually statues, really…statuettes or figurines, are very rare. The classic example is…

But a few others have been found…

Assuming, of course, that the latter two are really…real. Still, statuettes are rare because they weren’t really needed. Simply possessing the Pazuzu head amulet was sufficient. The question of his phallus is virtually irrelevant…in reality. He was not a fertility deity, and as such, he didn’t need an impressive phallus. In the first statuette, which is obviously of a much higher quality than the other examples shown above, his phallus is small as one would expect. In the case of the next statuette, it is clear that if a fully erect phallus is what is intended, it is simply too high up on the abdomen. It may come as a surprise to modern people, but ancient people knew exactly where the phallus was located just as they do. Otherwise, there would be no modern people. It also has a rather un-Pazuzu look to it, as if influences from at least one other daemon have been incorporated into it. In the third case, a phallus may not be what is intended. Pazuzu had a tail. So what? Well, it all depends upon the type of tail he had. It isn’t easy to tell, but he had a special tail. And this is important. The Real Pazuzu had a scorpion’s tail. This gave Pazuzu a very important weapon…we all know the fearsome reputation of the scorpion, which is based on the lethal poison that a scorpion sting can inject. Thus Pazuzu possesses a lethal weapon which one might expect the daemon to make known, and so it may be that with some statuettes, which are meant to be seen from head on, the scorpion tail can be represented as wrapping around the body, such as between the legs, and raised up in an intimidating manner. But for goodness sakes, Pazuzu…be very careful about how you wield it if you don’t want your own phallus to become collateral damage!

Hey Regan! What made Pazuzu so angry?

Because! He was made the butt of the joke!

Ok, ok…I guess that wasn’t my best one. Still, I would have thought that butts were right up Regan’s alley.

Here is a statuette of Goofy-Pazuzu…

It’s very crude, and shows the tail, in addition to what is obviously a phallus...assuming it’s really…real, and not made by some kid in his arts-and-crafts class after watching the movie. But! The tail is wrong for a scorpion. Compare to…

That is clearly a scorpion’s tail, but this is a classic presentation of Pazuzu, and one that would have been very valuable in antiquity. Goofy-Pazuzu is not, and the general presentation has clear flaws. But there were no Daemon Orthodoxy Police in the ancient world, and if you could afford to make a statuette, you could have the metal smith make it any way you wanted. And it was inevitable that there was a misunderstanding of the phallus and a scorpion’s tail curled up between the legs to show Pazuzu’s real weapon. That adds to what I’ve said before about the giant statute that Father Merrin supposedly sees at the beginning…

It is clear that this statue, which was made for the movie, does not feature a phallus, since it is clear that what would appear as such to someone not inclined to pay any real attention, is wrapping up from the bottom of the leg. Of course, the tail here cannot be a scorpion’s tail, which curls in a well familiar manner…

The Exorcist Statue would appear to suggest a snake wrapping up the left leg, and then rearing up its head in such a way that it gives the appearance of an erect phallus. That is a different kind of tail altogether! I think that the statute has the element of creating the false appearance of a large, erect phallus in the mind of the viewer who sees it only in passing, at the beginning of the film, and at the end of the film. But! In the novel, Regan has a brother…Jamie. Not in the movie. What many people don’t know is that Pazuzu himself was not an only child. His father was an obscure daemon called Hanpa, also known as Hanbi. In fact, the classic statuette that I’ve shown many times before, and indeed, yet again…above, has an inscription on the back. Pazuzu, in this inscription, refers to himself…

 I am Pazuzu, son of Hanpa. I am the king of the evil spirits of the air who emerges in a violent rage from the mountains.

 I must admit that I have been sloppy at times, in my references to Pazuzu on this website. Pazuzu, as he himself states, is a king of evil spirits…but be careful. He refers to the…evil spirits of the air, and he is the one who emerges from the violent…storm. What he is saying, if I may elaborate, is that he is no good guy…as ruler of the southwest wind, he is highly destructive. So, to refer to Pazuzu as a “good guy” is somewhat right, and quite a bit…wrong. In ancient Mesopotamia, spirit-beings, the daemons, are often times associated with forces in nature. They are not…gods, and they are not…demons, that is, in the classic Christian sense of the word. They can be both good in certain circumstances, and violent…malevolent…destructive…unmerciful, etc., in other circumstances. And they are key players in the game of Apotropaic Magic. This involves stylized rituals that will pit one daemon against another daemon. I see Pazuzu in this sense. If you were to summon Pazuzu when your wife wasn’t pregnant, wasn’t giving birth, wasn’t nursing a newborn, or caring for a young child, then you would be a very stupid person. Summoning him under these circumstances simply brings forth the King of the Malevolent Wind Spirits, and you can be sure that he will make you pay for that mistake. Now, it is possible for a very clever ancient Mesopotamian person to summon Pazuzu when Lamashtu is present. What I think happens is that Pazuzu appears and says…boy were you stupid to summon me! But before he can cause a bunch of mischief, he sees Lamashtu. She is his ancient sparring partner, and so he forgets all about doing mean things with the southwest wind, and immediate attacks his rival; so we have Pazuzian Matter vs. Lamashtuian Anti-Matter. In effect, you have summoned a nasty little daemon who can nonetheless be played off against another nasty little daemon…Lamashtu…the enemy of my enemy is my friend! And once he has driven away Lamashtu, you would then not hesitate to say goodbye to Pazuzu. In other words, you have used Apotropaic Magic to manipulate, momentarily controlling the Little Guy Who Nonetheless Packs a Powerful Punch. It is vitally important to leave aside a Modern, Western, Judeo-Christian context to properly appreciate the fact that the same daemon can be both good and bad…depending upon the context. And I would point out that even Christian/Jewish demonology has, in at least one instance, preserved a “demon” who is both evil and a little less so, depending on where he is and what he is doing at any given time. It is important to remember that Christian demonology flows out of Jewish demonology, which is simply a way of referring to spirit-beings that appear in the Talmud and post-Talmudic sources. One such being is Metatron, who has been interpreted as the Scribe of Yahweh and the angelic manifestation of the patriarch…Enoch, who never died. Metatron appears in Ezekiel 9, where the son of man sees a group of spirit-beings who carry “smashing weapons” and are ordered by God to destroy the Holy City, and everyone in it…well, almost everyone. That is reminiscent of what Joshua believed God told him to do at Jericho. However, in Ezekiel 9, a spirit-entity who carries an “inkhorn” makes a mark on the forehead of those righteous people who are not to be destroyed. The flip-side of this appears in Revelation, where the followers of the Beast are marked on the forehead. So when is a mark on the forehead good? When does it mean certain disaster? Depends! If you live in Ezekiel 9…a mark on the forehead is exactly what you want. If you live in Revelation, a mark on the forehead means that you will be destroyed when the Beast and his followers are finally killed. Samael was regarded as the name born by the figure known in the Old Testament as…The Satan, Ha-Satan. I have written about this extensively on this website. Satan wasn’t a name…it was a title, and meant…prosecutor, one who tests, the adversary. And he really only appears twice…in Job, where he is simply one of the sons of God, a sort of divine council lead by Yahweh Elohim. This is a good example from Job 1…

And it came to pass that the Sons of God appeared beside Yahweh, and Ha-Satan was also there among them.

And Ha-Satan has a certain function. He appears in Zechariah in a highly stylized court scene in which the candidate to become High Priest, a man named Joshua (no relation to the Destroyer of Jericho), stands before the Divine Judge…Yahweh Elohim. The attorney for the defense is the Malak of Yahweh…Yahweh’s Messenger, usually rendered…the Angel of the LORD. The prosecutor is Ha-Satan. He loses, but his role isn’t that of an evil being, in either Job or Zechariah. He fulfills a vital function, in the same way that the County Prosecutor is not an evil figure…there must be a prosecutor if society is not to collapse into chaos and find itself ruled by truly evil men. So Samael serves the imposing function of the Archangel of Death who nonetheless is the Archangel of the Fifth Heaven. In Christian demonology, Samael is a commander of a formidable army of demons, yet, he is not totally fallen away from God. But with the name…Venom of God, one might be inclined to focus on his “demonic” role, but to do so without grasping his angelic role will cause one to misunderstand him entirely. Early Christianity turned Ha-Satan, The Satan, into…Satan, and then rolled up other entities into him. I believe that Christ went into the wilderness to face off with, not Ha-Satan, but actually…a spirt-being named Azazel, the Ruler of the Waste-Places in the Wilderness. Similarly, Baal-Zebub (Beelzebub), was rolled up into Satan as well. Even the Great Father of the Greek Gods, Zeus, was recast as merely a manifestation of the Great Christian Bogeyman. And while Satan is envisioned as purely evil, the contradiction is that Samael isn’t, and therefore he is a somewhat useful example of how a spirit-being can be both good and bad at the same time.

Here the Old Testament patriarch Jacob, later known as Israel, wrestles with an angel who will end the match by touching Jacob on the hip, leaving him with a limp. The angel is not named in the Old Testament, but some sources identify him as Samael. Here is a depiction of Samael in more modern demonology…

…although one should exercise caution, since the Goat-Head is suggestive of Azazel, associated with Goats in the Wilderness. In fact, the notion of the “scapegoat” is derived from Azazel. The Old Testament includes a ritual whereby a goat is sacrificed to Yahweh Elohim, but another goat is sent out into the wilderness for…Azazel. When Christ defeated Azazel, he became the Ultimate Scapegoat. Likewise, Baphomet, a being originally associated with the Order of the Knights Templar, is depicted as part-goat…

Again…this is suggestive of Azazel, although the classic pose given to Baphomet is the pose of Pazuzu. So there is considerable blending of different spirt-entities. The Church of Satan was formed in 1966. The utmost care should be taken here. The Church of Satan did not condone Devil Worship. Originally, they managed, in clear contrast with Christianity, to actually conceptualize Satan in his original form…Ha-Satan, The Satan, and not as “The Devil” as Christianity has so carelessly recast him. However, that said, it was only to be expected that the public, much of which are unwilling to learn the truth about things anyway, and would rather listen to Ignorant Evangelicals who know almost nothing about the, purely literary, character known as Ha-Satan. But! They have tended to avoid being functional in the Scriptures at all, and so the Church of Satan comes off as having a better grasp of at least this character in the Bible than the Evangelicals. However! The Church of Satan adopted the image of Baphomet in a form that isn’t much different than the one provided above. And here I would point out something that the makers of The Exorcist may have played upon…in light of what the public knew about demons and the Devil in 1971 and 1973, the representation of Baphomet as envisioned by the Church of Satan would have been so much better as a “demon” in the movie than the rather obscure Pazuzu, who was completely unknown in demonology, among the Evangelicals, or within the American public in general. Yet! No Baphomet…we get Pazuzu. So Samael managed to side-step Christianity’s concept of…You’re Either a Good Guy or a Bad Guy But You Can’t Be Both…nonsense.

And so now I come to something that you might find interesting…Pazuzu, son of Hanbi, was not an only child. Although Pazuzu was of small stature…please join SukinotkeT in welcoming tonight’s special guest!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen! He may look a little strange, but please give a warm The Exorcist round of applause for…Humbaba!

Yes! Little Pazuzu’s Big, Big Brother! Also known as…Hey Good Lookin’ What’ch Ya Got Cookin’! This photo was the pride of Hanbi’s Family Photo album…

…indeed! And Humbaba, also called…Hu-wa-wa, stood backwards head and shoulders, as it were, above his little brother. Raised by the sun god, he protected the Cedar Forest of the Gods. He is famous for his inclusion in the epic of the semi-mythical hero Gilgamesh. One of the latter’s great feats was the killing of Humbaba. And if you thought that Pazuzu looks a little scary, take a look at some of the pictures in Hanbi’s Family Photo album…

Something is really wrong in the universe when Pazuzu can be the good-looking kid of the family. I must say that whatever SukinotkeT may think, and I admit that I’m seriously considering asking Father Merrin to help me exorcise her to some place where she can do no harm, such as 700 B.C. Nineveh, I must say that…

…my softer-side prefers the more sedate and pensive looking Hu-wa-wa than the more hideous version of this fine gentleman…

That’s a face that only a mother can love. And you might think that his name is a bit comical, but it appears that he is not the only mythical giant with a silly name! Introducing…

The Chinese mythical giant named….Gong-gong.

The above images show that Humbaba was portrayed with a big, toothy grin, and hair that grew from the face, and then fell down below his chin. And seeing how truth is stranger than fiction, and a whole lot funnier, I will juxtapose someone else with Pazuzu’s Ugly Big Brother. You’ve heard of Cheech and Chong? Meet…

Cheech and Humbaba, erstwhile siblings of Pazuzu. And as much as it is totally out of character for me, I will nonetheless make a strange suggestion that…

…are hybrid figures. Well, whichever of them are really…real. What do I mean? The faces of these statuettes have characteristics peculiar to Humbaba, and if this is the case, then some representations of Pazuzu involve an amalgamation of the features of the Two Brothers. And this is important when the issue of the tail and phallus is examined. I will show a modern interpretation of Humbaba…

What makes this interpretation so helpful is that the artist has brought out clearly something that the traditional images are not able to bring out…Humbaba had a phallus and a tail, just like his brother. But unlike his brother, Humbaba’s phallus and tail both end with a serpent’s head. And so those Pazuzu statuettes that give the appearance of being of inferior quality, are really Hybrid Pazuzu/Humbaba Images, and are not true images of Pazuzu such as that which I will call…the definitive and authoritative presentation of Pazuzu…

…that is, tiny phallus and scorpion tail, with no serpentine-characteristics. And so now the important conclusion! The statue of Pazuzu as supposedly seen by Merrin is impossible, and is a composite hybrid that mixes Humbaba with Pazuzu…

The size of it would indicate a full-fledged, cultic deity. It would be a statue that would stand in a large temple, with priests or priestesses who would perform rituals, especially sacrifices, to the god. But Pazuzu wasn’t a god, he was a daemon. And there was no clergy dedicated to him, nor was there ever a Pazuzu temple. Why? Why would there be? As a wind spirit, he’s a bad guy…but he is only one such wind spirit. And more importantly, other than concerned farmers, most Akkadian people knew of Pazuzu as a key part of apotropaic rituals involving pregnancy, child-birth, babies, and children, and mortal enemy of Lamashtu. If one could afford it, a statuette would be nice, but all one needed was a Pazuzu head worn around the neck, and knowledge of the correct rituals. There would have never been a Pazuzu temple, a Pazuzu clergy, or any rituals other apotropaic ones. And another key difference. Although a priesthood was necessary to perform the rituals involving a cultic deity…anyone other than an official priest or priesthood couldn’t possibly get it right, and would only offend the deity, with dreadful consequences, apotropaic rituals could be performed by anyone who learned them. That is why Pazuzu heads are found in such quantities in the Mesopotamian region. And point number 2! The statue of Pazuzu as supposedly seen by Merrin is impossible because the makers of The Exorcist exploited the blurring of features associated with Pazuzu and Humbaba well beyond what is seen in the inferior-quality, non-authoritative Pazuzu statuettes shown earlier. Not the face; no! When they made Merrin’s statue, they took away Pazuzu’s scorpion tail, converted it into the Snake Tail of Humbaba, wrapped it up around the left leg of the statue, and then had it jump out at the audience with the appearance of being a huge, erect phallus, one that seems to have the faint traces of a snake head at the end. Such a statue with this appearance would never have existed. Did the makers of The Exorcist film, as opposed to the novel, so thoroughly research the real Pazuzu that they also researched his brother Humbaba, and then created an impossible cultic statue of an apotropaic daemon that, as part of its shock value, seemed to have an obscene phallus that was really the snake tail of Humbaba, as opposed to the scorpion tail of his little brother? Did they create this as a clear sign that Merrin couldn’t, and didn’t, actually see this statue in the Artificial Reality?  Well, one very sound, if not infallible, principal to follow as far as an assessment of the thoroughness of the work of those who made The Exorcist is always to assume what will inevitably prove true is to answer that question in the affirmative. How much margin for error may have been left? I spent a couple of years analyzing the movie before I finally caught up with Pazuzu’s brother Humbaba and analyzed the statute in light of him. That may not mean all that much. But the margin for error? Well, I think that will become more than clear by the end of my final installments of this essay series…assuming that I don’t get it wrong again.

Now, Mrs. MacNeil, the exorcism shouldn’t take too long. But I must impress upon you that we can’t have that Zombie Witch-doctor getting involved.
I understand, Father Merrin.

Knock…knock…knock.
Oh, dear!

Hello, Mrs. MacNeil!  I’m here to see my brother.