EVIL SPIRITS AND SUPERNATURAL BEINGS

The history of Inca people is rich with mythology, vibrant deities, and an entire spiritual universe that shaped everyday life in the Andes. While the Incas worshipped benevolent gods such as Inti (the Sun) and Mama Killa (the Moon), they also believed in darker forces—spirits and supernatural beings capable of causing illness, misfortune, or natural disasters. These entities played a powerful role in Inca rituals, moral teachings, and community traditions, offering insight into how the empire understood both order and chaos.

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A Dual-Spirit World: Harmony and Threat

In Inca cosmology, the universe was divided into three realms:

• Hanan Pacha – the upper world of gods and celestial beings
• Kay Pacha – the earthly world of humans and animals
• Ukhu Pacha – the underworld, associated with ancestors, secrets, and unseen spirits

Evil or harmful spirits were often linked to Ukhu Pacha, yet they interacted with all realms. Incas believed that imbalance—neglecting rituals, disrespecting nature, or violating moral codes—could open pathways for malevolent forces to enter everyday life.

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Supay: The Most Feared Spirit

Among all supernatural beings, Supay was the most feared.
He ruled the underworld and commanded demonic spirits known as supa yayaq. Although not purely evil, Supay represented danger, chaos, and death. Miners in the Andes still reference versions of him today, showing how deeply his legend survived colonial influence.

Priests offered sacrifices and prayers to keep Supay satisfied and prevent misfortune, especially during mining, burial, and funerary rituals.

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Condemned Souls and Wandering Spirits

The Incas believed that the souls of those who lived dishonorably could become restless beings after death. These wandering spirits were blamed for:

• unexplained sickness
• poor harvests
• frightening nighttime encounters
• unusual animal behavior

To protect families from such spirits, shamans burned offerings, recited purification prayers, and cleansed homes with sacred herbs.

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Nature Spirits That Could Turn Hostile

The Incas viewed mountains, rivers, caves, and lakes as living, spiritual forces. While many were benevolent, some could become dangerous if disrespected.

Examples of unpredictable nature spirits include:

• ahuacas, spirits dwelling in rocky cliffs or caves
• malevolent wind spirits, believed to cause illness
• dangerous water beings, blamed for drownings and sudden storms

To appease these entities, travelers made small offerings—coca leaves, chicha, or llama fat—before crossing sacred landscapes.

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Shamans, Healers, and Ritual Protection

Priests and healers (known as paqos or hampeq) played a crucial role in protecting communities from supernatural harm. Their responsibilities included:

• diagnosing spiritual causes of illness
• performing cleansing ceremonies
• interpreting dreams and omens
• guiding families through offerings to dangerous spirits

One of their most common practices was pago a la tierra—feeding the earth with offerings to restore balance and maintain cosmic harmony.

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Moral Lessons Hidden in Dark Beings

Evil spirits also taught moral and social lessons. Stories warned people against greed, dishonesty, neglecting festivals, or mistreating the environment. These tales reinforced Inca values and offered a spiritual explanation for suffering, helping communities make sense of life’s challenges.

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A Spiritual World Filled With Light and Shadow

The history of Inca people reveals a civilization deeply connected to both benevolent and dangerous cosmic forces. Their beliefs about evil spirits were not simply tales of fear—they reflected a worldview built on balance, respect for nature, and the need for harmony between all realms. Today, Andean communities continue to preserve aspects of these traditions, keeping the Inca spiritual universe alive in modern culture.

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FORETELLING THE FUTURE.

There were sorcerers, too, who foretold the future. Some sorcerers drank themselves into unconsciousness with special concoctions they had prepared. When they recovered they told what they had dreamed and foreseen.

Fire was also used to foretell events. This divination by fire was a most impressive ceremony. The people of Huaro, near Cuzco, who were fire diviners, were highly respected and feared. Even the emperor fasted for three days to attend one of their fire-divining sessions.

At the ceremony a diviner placed two ceramic burners, or braziers, opposite each other. As he fed chips into the fires of the braziers, his assist-ants, hidden behind a wall, kept the flames under control by blowing into long copper tubes connected to the braziers. The fire diviner, weeping and chanting, invoked the spirits of living and dead people to come to his aid. Food and drink were placed on the floor near the fire, as offerings to them. The diviner questioned the spirits and, through ventriloquism, voiced their replies. In the meantime the assistants blew on the fires in the braziers, and the flames leaped high with each reply. This meant that a new spirit had appeared.

There were many other ways of foretelling the future. A priest might sacrifice a llama and study its markings to determine what the outcome of a battle would be. For less important questions a priest sacrificed and examined the lungs of a guinea pig, or even a bird. A man might scoop up a handful of pebbles and count them to see whether his plans would succeed or fail. If the number of pebbles was even, he would succeed; otherwise he would fail. Some men sought omens for the future in a wad of coca leaves. They spat the coca juice onto the palms of their hands. If the juice ran evenly down two extended fingers, the outcome of the plan would be favorable. If the juice ran down unevenly, it was a bad sign.

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INCA WORSHIPED THE NUMEROUS HUACAS

In addition to worshiping the deities, the Inca worshiped the numerous huacas—sacred places —which were everywhere throughout the Inca Empire. Mountaintops were huacas, because man could not penetrate them. The emperor's palace, with all his goods, was sealed after his death and became a huaca. Battlefields, caves, springs, quarries, and even the roots of trees were huacas.

There always seemed to be room for more huacas in the religion of the Andeans. When the Inca conquered a village and introduced new huacas, the villagers gladly accepted them. A man would sprinkle a few coca leaves as he passed a huaca. If he had no coca leaves, he placed a stone near it, as many had done before him. Thus huacas were distinguished by piles of stone.

 If he had nothing at all to offer, he pulled a few hairs from his eyebrows and lashes and blew them toward the shrine. Many huacas had shelters nearby. A priest lived in the shelter, caring for the shrine and cultivating a small field beside it in honor of the huaca. 

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INCA CEREMONIES

Inca ceremonies followed the Inca calendar. The seasons of the year were very important to the Inca, because they lived off the land. Their calendar was divided into twelve lunar months, named for important agricultural and religious events. Since the seasons south of the equator are reversed, the January of the Inca calendar was the equivalent of June in North America. The calendar year began with December, which is like May in the north.

Here is a brief account of the outstanding national ceremonies and festivals. There were many, many local festivals too. People who could not get to a big town or to the capital for a celebration observed the holiday at the nearest huaca. It goes without saying that whoever could get to Cuzco did so for the joy and satisfaction a religious people have in attending important ceremonies. December, Kapac Raymi, was the month of the Magnificent Festival. During this month the Inca held initiation ceremonies for the sons of the nobility. January, Kamay, was the month of the Small Ripening. February, Hatun Poky, was the month of the Great Ripening. March, Pakar Waray, was the month of the Flowers and Earth Ripening.

In April, Auriwa, the month of the Dance of the Young Maize, a white llama, brushed and groomed and covered with fine cloths and gold ornaments, was paraded in the plaza before a large gathering. The Inca, like many other Indian groups, had a myth about a Great Flood which had almost wiped out mankind and all living creatures from the earth. A white llama had survived this flood, and the llamas that paraded in the plaza each year were descendants of this first llama. In May, Aymuray, festivals were held all over the Empire to celebrate the month of the Harvest. June, Intl Raymi, was the month of the Festival of the Sun—the most important Inca ceremony. The people believed that the Sun was holding the celebration and that the nobility were his guests at the festival. The emperor himself presided over this ceremony, and every nobleman, dressed in his best and displaying all the ornaments he possessed, came to Cuzco for it.

Professional clowns entertained the gathering and made the people laugh. They wore masks and carried musical instruments—drums, rattles, bells, trumpets, whistles, and flutes. These musical instruments were made of wood, bone, reeds, shell, and metal. The clowns pranced about, pulling in people from the audience to dance with them. Some of the dances were dignified, however. To the sound of a great drum, which a servant carried on his back (the drummer was usually a woman), men and women formed a single line and joined hands. In their bright shirts, dresses, and headdresses they moved slowly across the plaza two steps forward, one step back. Sometimes the men formed one line and the women another, and danced together with great dignity from one end of the plaza to the other. The emperor, of course, did not dance. He sat on a low gold seat high up on the stone steps of the Temple of the Sun, and looked down on his people below.

The Festival of the Sun lasted for nine days. At dawn on the fourth day, all the Inca came out into the great plaza in front of the Temple, stretched their arms in front of their faces, and made kissing noises as a greeting to the Sun. Llamas and alpacas were sacrificed, and then the emperor stood up, holding two golden goblets filled with chicha. The goblet in his right hand he offered to the Sun, his father. The emperor poured it into a gold jar which was connected by tubes to the Temple. The chicha flowed through the tubes into the Temple, giving the impression that the Sun was drinking it.

From the goblet in his left hand the emperor took a sip of the chicha and then handed the goblet down for the nobles to sip and pass around among themselves. This royal gesture of friendship, of drinking with his noblemen as equals, meant a great deal to every nobleman present. Not for another year would any of them share a drink with their emperor.

The emperor, the priests, and others of royal blood now entered the Temple to offer gifts of silver and gold to the Sun. People of lesser rank "-brought gifts too, but they were not permitted to enter the Temple of the Sun. After walking up its two hundred steps, they remained outside, and the priests carried in their offerings.

Next there were more sacrifices of black llamas and alpacas, and then a priest cut open the first animal and examined its heart and lungs. If these proved healthy and unmarred, and if the lungs were still full of air, everything in the Kingdom of the Sun would be successful. If the animal was unhealthy, the people knew that there was misfortune ahead, for somehow they had displeased the Sun.

July, Chawa Warkis, was the month of Earth Purification. During this month priests made sacrifices to the huaca which presided over the irrigation system of the Cuzco valley, and similar festivals were held to honor the huacas at the irrigation canals all over the Empire. August, Yapakis, was the month of Everyone's Purification. Sacrifices, brought to Cuzco from the four provinces of the Empire, honored Water, Frost, the Air, and the Sun. September, Koya Raymi, was a dry month, and the Queen's Festival honored the change in weather. In October, Uma Raymi, the Inca held the Festival of the Water. The people prayed for rain, because the crops that had been sown in August and September would fail without it.

In November, Ayamarka Raymi, there was the Festival of the Dead. During this festival people made offerings to their dead ancestors. It is possible that this worship of ancestors was based on a fear of the dead. The Inca may have believed that unless they treated the shades of the dead with respect, the shades might molest the living.

In addition to these monthly ceremonies there were many others, which were held on special occasions, such as drought, an earthquake, or a war. During these ceremonies everyone who was not of noble rank had to leave Cuzco. Men and boys marched in procession through the streets, wearing red shirts with long fringes and ornaments, great feathered headdresses, and shell necklaces. They carried small dried green birds and white drums. At these ceremonies the only sound was the sound of the drums; the people were silent.

Human sacrifices were offered only on these solemn occasions, or at the coronation of a new emperor. It is said that at one emperor's coronation two hundred children were sacrificed—boys of ten and girls between ten and fifteen. The children were feasted before the ritual, so they would not appear hungry before Viracocha. After two days of fasting the special ceremony ended. There was feasting and dancing and people were gay again, confident that Viracocha, through the intervention of the Sun, would grant them their prayers.

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LIFE AFTER DEATH IN INCA COMMUNITY

According to Inca beliefs, the good people went up to heaven after death and lived with the Sun. There they had ample food, chicha, and warmth. Men and women who were not good in life, such as witches, went to live inside the earth. It was cold and dark there, and they were given stones to eat instead of corn.

The nobility, however, always went to live with the Sun after death, regardless of what they had done on earth. When a man died, his wife and other female relatives cut their hair and kept their heads covered with shawls during the long period of mourning. 

Outside the home, while the body was being prepared for burial, mourners—men and women —moved in a slow dance. The body was placed in a sitting position on a mat inside a cave or in a shelter built of rocks. The knees were drawn up to the chest, and the body was wrapped in layers of cloth. Some of the dead person's belongings were burned, and the rest were buried with him. When a nobleman died, his funeral rites lasted longer than a farmer's, because some of his wives and servants were killed, to accompany him and serve him in heaven. For a time after the burial the family visited the grave with o food, drink, and clothing to help the departed on his journey heavenward.

After the death of a wife a nobleman was not permitted to take another wife for a year. A farmer was not permitted to remarry for two years. In a farmer's household, where everyone was so dependent on the woman for weaving, mending, and cooking, as well as helping in the fields, it was, indeed, a hardship to be without a wife. A man's brothers and the members of his ayllu tried to help him and his children as best they could until the man could remarry.

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BELIEFS OF THE INCA PEOPLE

 Religion and ritual were present in all the activities of the Andean people. They worshiped many deities and sacred places. Inca People believed in good and evil spirits. And they saw omens in many things—a rainbow, a falling star, the shape of a cloud, or the hooting of an owl.

VIRACOCHA

Viracocha, the Inca believed, was the creator of the Sun, the Moon, and the stars. The Sun—the life-giver—was the most important servant of Viracocha. He watched over the maturing crops, and he was the father of the Inca emperor. His image, hammered in gold, was a human face surrounded by rays—the Sun's flowing hair.

The Moon was a woman, the wife of the Sun. The. Inca believed that the eclipse of the Moon was caused by a great serpent or mountain lion trying to devour her. To frighten the serpent off the Moon, the Indians pointed their weapons at it and shouted.

All the constellations had duties assigned to them by Viracocha. The Pleiades watches), over the seeds in the fields, and the constellation Lyra, which looked like a llama, watched over the herds.

Thunder, the god of weather, was another important deity. Like Viracocha he was pictured as a man with a war club in one hand and a sling in the other. Thunder and lightning came from his sling, and from the Milky Way he drew the rain. The Earth Mother was worshiped, too, especially by the farmers. Mother Sea was worshiped by the fishermen.

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