THE ANDEAN CONNECTION WITH THE STARS.

The Inca civilization controlled the largest territory in the history of the New World. The Inca Empire spanned the Andes, from Chile to Ecuador. They placed a great importance on astronomy and their religion was closely linked to it. Astronomy was important because it was used for agricultural purposes. Cuzco  for example lies on a radial plan mimicking the sky and pointing to specific astronomical events on the horizon. They built pillars carefully placed on mountains and hills overlooking Cuzco, so when the sun rose or set between these pillars, they knew they had to plant at a very specific altitude. Machu Picchu was considered a sacred ceremonial site, an agricultural experimentation center and an astronomical observatory.
The Incas were the only culture in the world that not only studied individual stars, but also grouped stars into constellations of both light and darkness, and assigned each of them a purpose, under the belief that everything in and around the world was connected. The universe according to their beliefs was not composed of discrete phenomena and events, but rather it was believed to be made of a powerful principle underlying the perception and ordering of objects and events in the physical environment. The snake in the sky for example has the same cycle as snakes on earth, and both live in harmony, alongside other celestial animals.
To the Inca civilization, the Milky Way (Mayu) was, and still is, referred to as a river flowing through the sky. Its counterpart is said to be terrestrial, the run off of the Vilcanota River, which runs SouthEast
/ NorthWest through the heart of Peru. The Vilcanota and the Milky Way are said to be mirror images of one another and for this reason the primary orientation of the Milky Way is said to be running SouthEast / NorthWest. During the twilight periods of the solstices the Milky Way forms a cross in the sky. This cross touches the 4 points on the horizon in which the sun rises and sets during the equinoxes.
Further, it divides the stars into 4 separate directional quarters.
In general, the sky was very important to the Incas in in relation to the agricultural cycle. It gave them the tools for survival in the highlands of the Andean mountains.  Both the moon and the sun were seen as powerful forces acting together and because of this interaction the building of  pillars and temples were made with great precision along their empire so that these heavenly bodies would pass over the structures or through the windows on specific days, like the summer solstice. The most crucial events for the Inca involved the rising and setting of the sun, moon, and stars.
The Milky Way was believed to be the path to the otherworld, connecting heaven and earth,  traveled by spirits, deities and shamans in trance. In the Inca creation myth, Vira'Cocha, the Creator, follows the primary axis of the Milky Way (SouthEast to NorthEast) on His journey from earth to the Upper-world after the time of creation had been completed. The "huacas," considered places containing sacred energies, whom the Inca prayed for a prosperous life, abided in the Upper-World. The Milky Way was the channel through which they communicated and the shrines were the portals.
Just after the June solstice the Inca himself presided over the most sacred ceremony of the year. It was called the Inti Raymi, "the solemn Feast of the Sun." Absolutely every noble from all over the Inca Empire was required to come to Cuzco for this ceremony and all people, nobles and commoners alike, were encouraged to participate. The ceremony was a "centering of the universe' around the Inca in the temple of the Sun at Cuzco. The timing of the Inti Raymi in the ritual calendar coordinated with the time in which the Milky Way aligned with the Vilcanota River. It was this time, when heaven and earth came together, and the sun rose and set in the Milky Way, and the people came together with their king to pay homage to the sun.
The king was the center of the Inca world and Cuzco was the center of the kingdom. As the Milky Way did to the night sky, the Inca partitioned the realm into 4 sections. As the Milky Way lends order to the universe, so did the Inca king to the empire. The cross created by the Milky Way at zenith was an Inca symbol of office. In the palace at Cuzco, an inner shrine was located, in which only those of  royal blood could enter. The purest divine blood on earth coursing in a symbolic way through the veins of the Inca made him most able to perform these tasks, and he did just like that.