world’s end, the residents of Cuzco made as much noise as possible to ward off
evil: they played musical instruments, children cried and screamed, and dogs
were whipped to make them howl. According to a tradition recorded by
Fernando de Montesinos, the Incas reacted in the same way when, following the
appearance of two comets in the sky, the court astrologers stated that these had
been sent by the god Viracocha to destroy the Moon and, with her, the entire
world, as punishment for their sins.
The Incas paid close attention to dreams, interpreted by a class of seers called
moscoq. They resorted to these specialists to avoid some ill-fated event that the
dreams foretold. A series of dreamlike images were considered announcements
of death or loss. The Andean chronicler Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala
mentions some of them: an image of a bird signified a fight; a river and a bridge,
or a lunar or solar eclipse implied the death of a parent; the eruption of a tooth
suggested the death of a father or a brother; a haircut, that of a husband; the
sacrifice of a llama foretold one’s own death. Some dream-visions, however,
were favorable. In various Inca myths the Sun god or Viracocha appears in the
dreams of a king or a future ruler, announcing victory in war and a glorious
destiny.
But, above all, deities manifested themselves in dreams to priests. Indeed, this
was one of the ways Andean divinities made their will and the future known, and
answered the questions of those who visited their sanctuaries. More frequently,
however, the gods communicated with the priests at night, in darkened
chambers, “speaking” to them in esoteric, nonhuman languages of natural,
musical, or animal sounds. In fact, many ancient Andean sanctuaries are located
in places that provided natural sounds, and their spatial organization and
architecture enhances the sound of musical instruments, flowing water, or
whistling wind, offering mystical, aural experiences to the faithful (see Deities).
The priests entered into trances induced by taking psychotropic substances that
allowed them to hear the voices of the gods. This highly organized form of
divination, which occurred in oracular sanctuaries, is a historical and cultural
phenomenon shared by very few civilizations. In this sense, ancient Peru, at the
time of the Incas, with its numerous and influential oracular centers, could be
considered the “land of oracles” par excellence.
Further Reading
Cobo, Bernabé. History of the Inca Empire: An Account of the Indian’s Customs and Their Origin, Together
with a Treatise on Inca Legends, History, and Social Institutions. Translated and edited by Roland
Hamilton. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1979 [1653].