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From the first millennium BCE out of the West as intoned by Assyrian and Babylonian voices up from an underworld comes Pazuzu to an art gallery, page or screen near you. He is called a demon by those that seek to find the darkness in life and should you wish to read beyond his current lurid reputation it maybe that his role as a protector brings a new light to bear on Pazuzu? He was seen as the destructive force behind the winds that wreaked great havoc and in the presiding mind-set of his believers they also related to him as the best defence against those winds.
Pazuzu is sometimes described as the King of the Winds and his particular control is of the west and south-west winds. To the Assyrian and Babylonians the winds out of the west and south-west brought famine, storms and locusts. If asking the source of the storms to calm down was possible in our ancestor’s perception then it seems reasonable to suggest that Pazuzu and others like him were not purely malevolent entities, or entirely evil spirits in the way we see demons today. The power to do good in Pazuzu’s character enabled him to be chosen for use as an amulet where his likeness was used to ward off evil.
His image is found in small full figure statues. His image may not have been created in a larger size to avoid attracting too much attention from and underworld entity. His potency to wreak havoc was also his key to warding off evil, but it maybe that calling upon him was considered a dangerous way to maintain a safe haven. Honouring his potency in a small statue was maybe enough to show him that you were giving him due attention. The fear of unduly attracting Pazuzu’s attention with a large representation is not in evidence if you take in Roberto Cuoghi’s 6 metre fibre glass sculpture of the demon god in, or outside of an art gallery.
Pazuzu has come to great attention of late in the book and several film versions of the Exorcist. He has continued to grab limelight and character space in cartoons and comics. A helpful version of him was shown fulfilling wishes in the animated sitcom Futurama. From the pages of Constantine the graphic novel Pazuzu has gone on to feature in the TV Series with the same name. In the trailer for, “Godzilla: King of the Monsters,” there is a large statue of Pazuzu seen being toppled by an explosion. However you set up Pazuzu there is a chance to see his light from above and to let that cast his shadows into the dark below.
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Oranssi Pazuzu at Dante's Highlight, Helsinki, 27.2.2010. Finnish Psychedelic Black Metal. © Samuli Huttunen, 2010.
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Album cover for Finnish psychedelic black metal band Oranssi Pazuzu. Inside of CD tray. www.myspace.com/oranssipazuzu