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The Olmec religion associated nature with the supernatural world. Springs, mountaintops, and caves were considered portals (doors) to the supernatural world. Olmec cities were often constructed near natural features, and buildings were sometimes erected to look like a nearby mountain or volcano.

As in many ancient cultures, Olmec shamans, or priests, were believed to have the power to intervene in the supernatural world for the benefit of their people. The Olmecs viewed their shamans with deep respect and willingly honored their great power. Olmec shamans were said to enter trances by using hallucinogenic drugs and through bloodletting, a process of piercing their skin, often the tongue, ears, or genitals, and losing much blood in the ritual.

While in such a trance, shamans were said to transform themselves into their naguals, or animal spirit companions. In this state the shaman might be able to enter the supernatural world through one of its portals. The Olmecs believed that once the shaman had entered the spirit world he could manipulate the forces controlling rain and the growth of crops in order to sustain his people. Some archaeological evidence indicates infants, as symbols of the renewal of life, may have been sacrificed to the gods who were believed to control rain.

The most important symbol in the Olmec belief system, and to subsequent cultures throughout Mesoamerica for centuries to come, was the jaguar. The jaguar was considered the most powerful earthly predator. It navigated well on earth, in the air, and in water--the three vital divisions of the Olmec world. According to the Olmec religion, in early times, a human woman and a jaguar bred, creating a were-jaguar, or a creature both human and jaguar, who was the ancestor of all Olmecs. The jaguar was the most common nagual to the shamans. Mesoamerican art and architecture features many depictions of shamans in various states of transformation into the were-jaguar.

From artwork, archaeologists and historians have been able to piece together some of the framework of the Olmec religion--enough to know that it was highly complex. According to Brian Fagan, in his book Kingdoms of Gold, Kingdoms of Jade (1991): "The Olmec took a set of centuries-old tribal beliefs about the spirit world and transformed them into a complex array of beliefs about prestige, success, and control of society that were entirely in tune with American Indian thinking about the nature of the universe. And they, and their successors, ruled with these new beliefs for over 2,500 years."

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