Note 300.2 — Chapter XIII · Babylonian, Anatolian, and Aegean Ritual.

For the purpose of the exorcism, to deliver a “banned” person, the high god, Marduk or another, might be called in; but Marduk also works the effect by magic: a rope is woven by Ishtar’s maidens, which Marduk (or his priest) turns round the head of the sufferer, then breaks it through and throws it out into the desert.300.2 This looks like symbolic magic; the knotted rope represents the ban, which is then broken and thrown away.