In the name of Dionysos the Monster Killer,
grandson of Kadmos the Dragonslayer,
I rebuke you desolation that lays waste at the noon hour;
you who appear as a sad-eyed youth with a white raven
perched upon your shoulder, and a face that makes you
seem innocent and incapable of ever harming another,
though in truth you are a coiling dragon belching fire,
the bastard offspring of Gaia and Aither, and brother
of sinister Acedia, Aboulia, Aergia and Anomia,
merciless Torpor whom the Moabites called Belphegor,
voivod of the void, and known among the Canaanites
as Chamōsh, the one who quarrels, the enemy of beauty and desire.

In the name of Dionysos who drives out delusion,
and bursts the unbreakable bonds of obsession,
I renounce you and smash any claim you have on me Torpor,
even if it was forged through negligence, thoughtless agreement,
or inheritance; those who succumb to you, abomination, are subject
to spirits of exhaustion, apathy, anhedonia, and neglect for all of the things
of the body and the soul; you burden your playthings with countless fears
and morbid imaginings until their wills are
crushed beneath a tremendous weight; you snuff out ambition,
hope, dreams and delight until your victims’ lives
have become small, dreary, and pointless;
you pour into their minds an endless stream of black bile
until only the ash of their former lives remains.

In the name of Dionysos who keeps away evil, who answers cries for help,
I condemn you parasite of impiety, forerunner of the vices; you, foul one,
scoff at every reason to do good, sowing doubt
and confusion with your putrid whispers,
and you brazenly rush to any sign of passion for holiness
to try and cool things down; nothing brings you more pleasure,
Torpor, than to make the religious into a runaway,
a coward who has fled the spiritual battlefield
to live a life of mediocrity, safety, and predictability,
unmindful of their oaths and duty to their people, to their traditions,
to their land, and to their Gods.

Thrice-mighty Dionysos, I pray that you
remove this wicked spirit from my life.
Your power can triumph over him
and all of his kinfolk easily.
I pray that you will protect me and my loved ones
from his wicked thoughts
and Torpor’s temptations which are full of
deceit, despondency, and dejection.
O son of Zeus, I implore you, drive him back
to his underworld home and banish
his foreboding presence from my life for good.
His power cannot touch me
if your strength is shielding me.
I fight with all I have against everything
that stands opposed to the order of the Gods,
but it is your power that truly vanquishes the enemy.
I beseech you Dionysos, remove this vile fiend Torpor
from my life so that I may shine in your light once again.