Against Karkûm

Written by thehouseofvines

Karkûm, father of sorcery
and one of the mightiest of Šedim,
was traveling to the house of NN,
because of a compact with a sorcerer,
eager to spread illness, suffering, and quarrels,
when he encountered Dionysos Alexikakos
upon the road. Dionysos pointed his thyrsos
at Karkûm and said in a thunderous voice:
“You were sent by an evil one,
but I am sending you to the abode
of ninety nine evils.
Over nine swamps,
over nine rivers,
over nine seas
I send you,
and don’t ever come back from there;
or you shall receive
nine beatings,
nine floggings,
nine tortures,
and I shall cut you into nine pieces,
and thrice nine birds will feast on your flesh
and each fly off in a different direction!”
Karkûm disappeared,
and did not trouble
the house of NN again.

3 thoughts on “Against Karkûm”

  1. Who is “NN”? Is there a backstory for “NN”?

    Or is “NN” a general placeholder?

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    1. It is the academic standard for the Greek deina (or simply Δ, sometimes stylized), itself a placeholder where the itinerant religious specialist (or as we would call them, “magician”) was supposed to insert the name of a spirit, their client, or the target. It is Englished as NN because most Greco-Egyptian magic insisted on maternal descent (i.e. “Bruce, son of Martha”) over the usual designation which included name and then either father or clan, especially if the document was intended to hold any legal weight.

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