There were many methods to prevent an attack by a ghost or demon, including wearing an amulet, making a representative figurine, drinking a magic potion, making an offering, and reciting an incantation to exorcise the unwanted spirit. The following excerpts from a first millennium B.C.E. magical text describe part of a ritual and incantation:

If a ghost has seized a man (and) continually follows him or if an alu-demon or a mukil resh lemutti-demon has seized him, or generic evil continually seizes him or [pursues him], you take dirt from an abandoned town, dirt from an abandoned house, dirt from an abandoned temple, dirt from a tomb, dirt from foundations(?), dirt from an abandoned canal, (and) dirt from a road. You mix (them) together with ox blood. You make a figurine of generic evil. You clothe it...