First off, I want to say how much I appreciate how well read on various religions you are. You always have something interesting to say.
That is so kind, thank you. In another thread, I'll share some videos about Turkic religion that you might enjoy. It is a topic that has captivated my interest lately.
I haven't heard of iyeler, but I've seen this concept of spirits of place in many religions...
I had the feeling that you are familiar with the concept. From what I recall, there are spirits of place in the Roman, Germanic, and Slavic religions. The Roman one is called a
lar. Norse religion has the
vættur. The
domovoy is the household spirit in Russian religion.
As I learn about Turkic religion, I work on my vocabulary of it. At this time, I do not know a lot about Turkic languages and cognates. From what I have seen on Wiktionary and Wikipedia so far,
iye (with uppercase:
İye) is specifically the Turkish term for the spirit of place. It means 'Owner' or 'Possessor.' The plural is
iyeler (with uppercase:
İyeler). There are various kinds of iyeler such as the
ev iyesi, the household spirit. Whereas
ev iyesi is the Turkish term,
ev iyəsi is the Azerbaijani cognate. I try to find the Azerbaijani cognates with respect to the names and terminology of Turkic religion because I feel more drawn toward Azerbaijan than Turkey. Turkic languages, I must add, sound awesome and really cool to my hearing.
We honor our 'spirit of place' with a shrine in the front yard. He's an actual being; my husband can see him(he was terrified of him for awhile, until he realized what he was).
That's great that you have the shrine. If you don't mind me asking, how often do you honor your spirit of place?
I have been honoring the
ev iyesi recently. There is a beautiful mug reserved specifically for him. When I bring home a new bottle or carton of milk, I offer him the first of it by pouring it into the mug and placing it on the TV stand (I don't use the television, by the way). There is a feeling of more balance in the room now.