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On its way to the Afterlife, the astral body or spirit body of the deceased passes through a so-called transition zone or temporary dimension in which the deceased is prepared for the Afterlife. Spirit body and soul that leave the physical body at death are a reflection of the deceased in the Ancient Egyptian Underworld or Duat, the Realm of the Dead in which the god Osiris rules. The Egyptian goddess Amentet or Imentet - "She from the West", associated with the Ancient Egyptian monarchy, was the recipient and attendant of the deceased in this dimension and the embodiment and Neter of the 'Land in the West' or the necropolis of the western side of the Nile Valley, called Amentet or Amenti.

According to the ancient Egyptians, the location of the sunset was the entrance to the Land of the Dead or the gate to the Underworld. Being the goddess of the dead, Amentet guarded this gate and assisted in the process of the holy rebirth. Only gods and goddesses could move freely between this intermediate zone and the land of the living. In Egyptian mythology, the active free-moving element of the corporeal soul of the deceased could also travel between two worlds in the form of the Ba-bird, a bird with a human head as a metaphor for interdimensional contact.

For unclear reasons, the deceased often stayed for a longer period of time in this transition zone or 'Halls of Amenti', the vestibule of the Afterlife where temporary contact with the deceased is still possible and where the gate is ajar during a Near Death Experience (NDE). This information is considered the most valuable legacy of the ancient Egyptians and consists of an extensive collection of funerary texts intended to protect the deceased in the Afterlife. This is called the Egyptian Book of the Dead.