Editing Coca (section)

===Coca use in religious rituals===
Due to the [[Spanish conquest]] of the Inca Empire, the Spaniards had direct access to the Inca. They had insight to their everyday lives, and it is through their lens that we learn about [[religion in the Inca Empire]]. While the indigenous author [[Pedro Cieza de León]] wrote about the effects coca had on the Inca, multiple Spanish men wrote about the importance of coca in their spirituality. For example [[Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa]], Father [[Bernabé Cobo]], and Juan de Ulloa Mogollón noted how the Incas would leave coca leaves at important locations throughout the empire. They considered coca to be the highest form of plant offering that the Incas made.<ref name="auto"/>

The Incas would put coca leaves in the mouths of mummies, which were a sacred part of Inca culture. Mummies of Inca emperors were regarded for their wisdom and often consulted for important matters long after the body had deteriorated. Not only did many Inca mummies have coca leaves in their mouths, but they also carried coca leaves in bags.<ref name="auto"/> These are believed to be Inca sacrifices, and like the Aztecs, the Inca participated in sacrifices as well. It is clear that the Incas had a strong belief in the divinity of the coca leaf as there is now evidence that both the living and the dead were subjected to coca use. They even sent their sacrifices off to their death with a sacrificial bag of coca leaves. The coca leaf affected all stages of life for the Inca. Coca was also used in divination as ritual priests would burn a mixture of coca and llama fat and predict the future based on the appearance of the flame.<ref>{{Cite book|last=von Hagen|first=Adriana|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jEqwCQAAQBAJ|title=Encyclopedia of the Incas|date=4 June 2015|isbn=9780759123632|page=88|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield}}</ref>