Nut is the sky itself, the woman covered in stars who arches over Geb and is held apart from him by Shu, and the mother of Osiris, Isis, Set and Nephthys. Each evening she swallows the sun and each dawn gives it birth again, and the stars are her body; the dead king enters her and becomes a star. She is also a cow, a sow suckling the stars, and the sycamore at the edge of the sky, and the inside of the coffin lid is painted with her.
Modern Practice
Nut is called on for star work, night vigils and any rite for the dead, with the coffin-lid and the maqet ladder kept in view rather than softened into 'the universe'. The offering is water poured out under the stars.