Inca Symbols

To understand the Inca worldview, set aside our modern way of looking at symbols. Here, a symbol was never just decoration—it was a doorway to the sacred. The Incas divided the universe into three distinct worlds, each represented by an animal.

The world above, home to the Sun and the Moon, belonged to the condor. Spreading its wings high above the snowcapped peaks, this majestic messenger of the gods embodied absolute freedom and spiritual elevation. The world of the present—the realm where we walk, struggle, and live—was guarded by the puma, a symbol of strength, agility, and wisdom.

And the world below, the realm of the dead, belonged to the serpent, representing eternity and rebirth. These three worlds come together in the famous Chakana, the Inca cross you can see on your left. With three steps on each side, it represents Mother Earth, Pachamama, and served as a kind of spiritual map.

According to this belief, when a person died, the puma retrieved their soul from the world below, before the condor carried it high into the sky. This probably isn’t the first time you’ve come across these animals in Peru—and it certainly won’t be the last.