at the same time, it objectified and legitimized the decision-making processes,
thus assuring the broadest social and political consensus.
In this image by Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala,
soothsayers practice divination by fire. Guaman
Poma de Ayala, Felipe. El primer nueva corónica
y buen gobierno. Edited by John V. Murra and
Rolena Adorno, 250/277. Mexico City: Siglo
Veintiuno, 1980 [1615].Specialists known as hamurpa (Quechua hamurpayay [to understand or
consider in depth]) examined how llama fat or coca leaves burned, or how the
blood of a disemboweled guinea pig spurted. They also scrutinized the legs of
spiders enclosed in special containers, or observed how the juice of a wad of