The Sweat of the Sun

Ancestor worship in Peru

Gold is called the ‘Sweat of the Sun’ in Inca culture. The king was symbolized by the sun and a big golden mask from Manteño, Ecuador, so the north of the Inca Empire, has a big serpent with two heads on the forehead.

A serpent with two heads symbolizes in Inca culture, the secrets of life and death. Is this something like the cycle in nature? The birth and death of all? Perhaps, but more probably it has to do with ancestor worship. A deceased king was believed to live on in heaven and could, from there, give messages to the living. This was done through shamans under influence of hallucinogetic drugs like the San Pedro cactus (aywasca). It seems that the developments in agriculture have to do with this. Passed away kings would have given messages about how to improve harvests. The agriculture took place on terraces and new species evolved there like mais, tomato and potato. Also animal species like the llama and the guinee pig, seem to have come into being in this way.

What more can there have been communicated from this state called ‘death’? Perhaps many things and possibly it even takes place today…