The project will generate new knowledge about the conceptualizations of esoteric practices through long-term anthropological fieldwork observation of ritual, music and oral tradition in two bilingual indigenous groups of South American highlands. Addressing a lacuna in current studies on Andean ontologies and ruination processes in the Anthropocene, the project will provide much-needed insights into the negotiation conditions and indigenous translations and conceptualisations of esoterism, paying special attention to asymmetrical relationships among humans and non-human entities.