The PUMA SPIRIT.

The PUMA SPIRIT, for the Incas, was a powerful and protective spirit. This spirit animal represented the middle world of humans, called "Kay Pacha." It symbolized the power of strength of the human soul and at the same time the strength of the earth surface in the survival task against the negative forces  of nature.
In the Incan belief the human soul was immortal. When a person died, the soul went to the underworld, represented by the spirit of the snake and called "Uku Pacha." The spirit of the puma descended into the underworld to collect the souls allowed to leave the premises. Some of them reincarnate in the Kay Pacha (human world) and others were taken by the spirit of the condor to serve the entities that lived in the upper world, called "Hanan Pacha."
The Incas divided the universe in three different planes or worlds. They were united by an axis that connected all of them. These worlds were perceived individually different.
The Andean Cross represents all of them. It is a three-stepped cross. It symbolizes the subdivisions of the three different planes.
The shaman or priest was the spirit trained to journey through the central axis as a mediator. In a trance, he was allowed to enter into the lower realm or the underworld and to the higher levels inhabited by the superior souls of,  to find out the reasons for the misfortunes of the Earth level (human world).
These Inca symbols - the snake, the puma and the condor - are found in Incan architecture and artwork.
The corners of the Andean Cross (Chacana) represented the values of the Incan culture, such as Love (munay), Knowledge (Yachay), and Work (Llankay). It also represented Respect and Obligation to parents (ancestors), to the Inca ruler, and to the Creator (Viracocha).
Cuzco, the capital city of the Incan Empire was designed in the shape of the PUMA to represent the strength of the energy forces emanating from it in the earth level, the forces of nature. The heart of the animal was located at the main square in which was once the Palace of the Inca Viracocha, the Ninth Incan Emperor. The Temple of the Sun (Coricancha) represented the sex of the Puma, and finally Sacsayhuaman represented the head of the spirited animal.