In addition to dissolution NAM-BÚR-BI, it is also a generic name for rituals, NAM-BÚR written phonetically as nappulu in late Babylonian sources.
Zimri-Lim of Mari’s officials sent rare ants and a sheep abortion to their king as evidence of omens and Maul suggests that these could be interpreted as indicating that these were needed for a NAM-BÚR-BI ritual.
[4] The greatest numbers of apotropaic ritual were to counteract terrestrial signs observed in nature, in the immediate vicinity and workspace of the subject, in and near the house of a man, and in the field of agriculture and animal husbandry.
[4] There are strikingly few namburbi rituals to counter astrological omens, as a neo-Assyrian letter records: “A solar eclipse of two fingers magnitude took place during the sunrise.
[7] Colophons of namburbi tablets and letters from writers and astrologers of the Assyrian kings Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal show that it was the role of the ašipu, “exorcist,” to plan and implement the apotropaic rituals.
The conjuror then performed the incantation, often climaxing by shattering a clay pot, and the subject was washed with the consecrated water, which was afterward poured over the figurine, to return the impurity to its source.
A variety of symbolic actions could follow, including cutting the subjects hair, fingernails, stripping off his coat, peeling an onion or unwinding a thread to represent the dissolution of the fate.