Many motifs in Nazca art were concerned with fertility, especially of people and plants. Supernatural beings are often shown holding plants or with vegetation sprouting from them.
Another major religious concern was with water and rain; these were often the responsibility of gods connected with mountains.
Later religious beliefs suggest the Milky Way was identified as a divine river, source of earthly waters, its dark patches and surrounding constellations intimately connected with rain.
Observation of the movement of these heavenly bodies may have had an important place in timing key farming activities such as sowing and harvesting.
Religious practices such as healing and worship were probably the province of shamans (witch doctors) or priests who entered trances induced by a variety of hallucinogens. These included coca leaves, datura (a poisonous but narcotic plant), the juice of the San Pedro cactus and a snuff made from wilka seeds.
Under the influence of these the shaman was supposed to be able to leave his body and fly, a suitable way to view the Nazca Lines. Objects like snuff trays, and scenes and motifs in the art of the Nazca and other contemporary cultures like Huari, Tiwanaku and Moche, show that use of these hallucinogens was widespread and important in Andean ritual life.
