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128 ers SARL DS ox ah > Mh utes EB hh RNY 4 =| ee SA oe See - FALSE ate BRS es ) ae Nas ee Et Rare POTS Eg d 5 “) ) >) Ks Sanatehaans ys 4 puetevg S TEAS . SWAN fh : CoM Figure 38 Thou findest Ra standing there. He greets thee, lays hold on thy arm. He leads thee into the celestial Double Palace. He places thee upon the throne of Osiris. After a series of Divine Encounters with major and minor deities, the Pharaoh now experiences the utmost Divine En- counter, with the Great God RA himself. He is offered the throne of Osiris, making him eligible for Eternity. The celes- tial journey is complete, but not the mission. For though the king has become eligible for Eternity, he now must find and attain it—one final detail in the translation to an everlasting Afterlife: the king now must find and partake of the "Nour- ishment of Everlasting," an elixir which keeps rejuvenating the gods in their celestial abode. The priestly incantations now address this last hurdle. They appeal to the gods to "take this king with you, that he may eat of that which you eat, that he may drink of that which you drink, that he may live on that which you live. Give sustenance to the king from your eternal sustenance." Some of the ancient texts describe where the king now goes as the Field of Life; others refer to it as the Great Lake of the Gods. What he has to obtain is both a beverage that is the Water of Life and a food that is the Fruit of the Tree of Life. Illustrations in the Book of the Dead show the king (sometimes accompanied by his queen, Fig. 38) within the DIVINE ENCOUNTERS