a god or goddess to a human being, either by an embrace or through some offering which was eaten. Thus Temu transferred the magical power of his life to Shu and Tefnut by embracing them,[1] and in the Ritual of the Divine Cult[2] the priest says, "The two vessels
of milk of Temu are the sa,
|
of my limbs."
The man who possessed this sa could transfer it to his friend by embracing him and then "making passes" with his hands along his back. The sa could be received by a man from a god and then transmitted by him to a statue by taking it in his arms, and this ceremony was actually performed by the king in the Ritual of the Divine Cult.[3] The primary source of this sa was Rā, who bestowed it without measure on the blessed dead,[4] and caused them to live for ever thereby. These facts make it tolerably certain that the magical power of Khensu Nefer-ḥetep was transferred to Khensu Pa-ȧri-sekher in one of two ways: either the statue of the latter was brought near to that of the former and it received the sa by contact, or the high priest first received the sa from the greater god and then transmitted it to the lesser god by embraces and "passes" with his hands. be this as it may,
