BeerBreadDatesIncenseWaterA white lambFirst fruits
Invocation Approach
Tone
The light that sees everything
Address
UtuShamashThe Sun
Relationship
The judge who sees what is done in the dark
Warning
His justice is not merciful and the sources do not pretend it is
Resonance
Those seeking justice travellers those who need to be seen
Symbols
Sun discThe sawRaysThe mountain of the eastThe scales
Mythology Summary
Utu is the Sumerian sun god, the Akkadian Shamash, the son of Nanna and Ningal and the brother of Inanna, who comes out of the eastern mountain, crosses the sky seeing everything and goes down into the underworld at night. His temples were the Ebabbar at Larsa and at Sippar, and he is the god of justice, of the traveller and of divination, the patron of the baru priests who read the signs. In the Gilgamesh epic he helps Gilgamesh and Enkidu against Humbaba and hears Gilgamesh's lament afterwards, and the Sumerian hymns call him the judge of the land.
Modern Practice
Utu is called on for justice, for oaths and for seeing what has been hidden, and by travellers and by those who need to be seen. The justice is the older kind, which is not the same as mercy, and the entry does not promise otherwise.