When the Stars Are Right: Towards an Authentic R'Lyehian Spirituality by Jones, Scott R. (October 1, 2014) Paperback

by Scott R. Jones

"Canadian author, editor, and poet Scott R. Jones [approaches] Old Grandpa Theobald’s life’s work and literary legacy as a true spiritual seeker, and, as a result, uncovers real spiritual truths. This is no Simon 'Necronomicon', no coy cash-in; instead, the book you hold in your hands is a sort of Cosmic Horror 'How to Win Friends and Influence Cultists', filled with potentially life-changing wisdom, provocative observation, and beautiful madness. When the Stars Are Right is the first real self-help book for the weird fiction crowd." -- Ross E. Lockhart, editor of 'The Book of Cthulhu' “With this book Scott R. Jones manages to transcend the mire of pseudo-Necronomicons and the pop Cthulhu cottage industry ... a stirring examination of the genuine Darkness that churns not only in the Mythos of H.P. Lovecraft but in the universe at large.” -- Richard Gavin, author of 'At Fear's Altar' "... boldly contemplates the life-changing notions that chortled and skittered along the edges of Lovecraft’s best work. Highly recommended, but don’t expect any gates to close easily afterwards." -- Bryan Thao Worra, NEA Fellow in Literature, author of 'DEMONSTRA' "This isn't a book; it's a crime scene!" -- Leeman Kessler, AskLovecraft.com Yog-Sothoth … Nyarlathotep … Shub-Niggurath … CTHULHU. The Great Old hideous monster-gods from beyond Time and Space. Ancient, eldritch horrors that populate the pantheon of weird-fiction writer Howard Phillips Lovecraft’s increasingly popular milieu, his so-called Cthulhu Mythos. Some claim that they are merely fiction, while others have convinced themselves that Lovecraft somehow intuited their objective existence. When faced with the weird, chimerical potency of the Great Old Ones, whether they are approached through fiction, magical practice, or, say, a table-top role-playing game, neither viewpoint really seems to satisfy. The Great Old Ones are protean, nebulous, unimaginable… and impressively persistent in their psychological and spiritual presence. In "When The Stars Are Towards An Authentic R’lyehian Spirituality", author Scott R Jones deftly breaks down the barriers between the rational and the irrational, between the bright logic of our daytime intellect and the fearful non-Euclidean symmetries of our darkest dreams. In the process, the truth of the Great Old Ones is revealed in all its cosmic resonance. Beyond reason… beyond madness… beyond the unspeakable… lies the Black a new mode of being, a spirituality that anticipates a new appreciation of humanity’s place in an increasingly dire and indifferent cosmos. "When The Stars Are Right" asks the reader a simple “Are you keeping it R’lyeh?” The answers may surprise you. "When The Stars Are Towards An Authentic R’lyehian Spirituality" by Scott R Jones, with an introduction by Jordan Stratford '(Living An Ancient Way of Knowing' and 'A Dictionary of Western Alchemy') and interior illustrations by Michael Lee Macdonald. Available in print and electronic book formats from Martian Migraine Press. Print editions may be ordered directly from MMP at martianmigrainepress.com

Genres: Occult, Horror, Religion, Philosophy, Cthulhu Mythos, Lovecraftian, Fantasy

Unknown Binding

First published March 19, 2014

Reviews

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, you've gotten past Lovecraft's feet of clay and can now realize that enjoying his brand of weird fiction doesn't make you a racist. You've seen every meme with tentacled pies and cute squid; ordered your Lovecraft T-shirt? Well grab your Cthulhu plushie and read this book. When the Stars are Right: Towards an Authentic R'Lyehian Spirituality cuts through all of the pop culture and posits just what it claims, a spiritual framework based on Yog-Sothothery. This isn't a "Necronomicon" or a cook-book for summoning great old ones. This isn't some Discovery Chanelesque "it's all real and we're doomed" mockumentary. Scott Jones takes the framework of Lovecraft's creations and moves them beyond into a self-contained, spiritual experience. Using a synthesis of old-school Gnosticism, modern spirituality, and post-modern philosophy; with a dash of psychology thrown in for good measure. Jones delves into the underlying essence of the so-called Cthulhu Mythos and applies what he discovers to his own life, all our lives. He has effectively created a living document, something that can used and appended in one's own life.

This book is the sort of thing that the Weird community needs, not necessarily what it wants. No longer are we faced with the othering of that which is different, because in Yog-Sothoth, we are all the Other and we are all the Same. This book shows how the classic symbols of the Lovecraftian Mythos have evolved beyond the simple, banal purpose of pointing out how easy it is to be scared of what we don't understand. This shows how the Mythos can help to facilitate our understanding of ourselves, so that we can live in a better world. A world that can get over itself and keep it R'Lyeh.

[Heidi Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

So that was weird.

Weird is generally a compliment in my universe, and reading When The Stars Are Right: Towards An Authentic R'lyehian Spirituality is definitely a unique experience. It's a quasi-Jungian exercise in the power of symbolism. It's a beautiful, poetic self-help book. It's funnier than you'd think. It's a philosophy, or at least the groundwork for one. It's cuttingly insightful about the human condition (such as it is), and cleverly models the human need for something to believe in . . . even if it's Nothing.

I recently gave five stars to the Jones-edited Cthulhusattva: Tales of the Black Gnosis, and one of the qualities that really dazzled me was its thematic freshness. Now I see where it was born. This psycho-symbolic analysis of the Mythos pantheon is utterly strange and fascinating. And maybe helpful.

I've studied a lot of comparative mythology and different belief systems, and the result is my default worldview is set to "Jungian." In When the Stars Are Right Jones guides readers through a philosophy where the Great Old Ones fit snugly into various archetypal slots, and that arrangement makes sense because it already exists everywhere people tell stories. A little ironically, it also remakes the Old Ones' innate otherness into patterns our tiny minds can work with: Nyarlathotep the Messenger, Cthulhu the Dreamer, Shub-Niggurath the fecund Mother, Yog-Sothoth the Demiurge, and so on. While Cthulhu is obviously the star in a R'lyehian cosmos, I'd also praise Jones' interpretation of Nyarlathotep, which adds a jolting modern iteration to the Crawling Chaos.

Central to his cosmos, Jones places an often-occulted aspect of Lovecraft's most well known creation. Here we meet Cthulhu, not as the obliterating apocalyptic madness rising from the deep familiar from Lovecraft's purple prose and terrified Miskatonic academics, and not as that tentacled hat you bought on Etsy last winter, either.* Instead envision a serene Cthulhusattva, dead but dreaming, drowned deep in the heart of R'yleh. Those dreams he shares with us as a wellspring of the Black Gnosis, the heart (or Void) of Jones' spiritual practice. "When all is madness, there is no madness."

Seriously, I don't know what more to say. I like it, even if I don't quite buy it. To be honest, I laughed aloud with relief and postmodern complicity when Jones admits in his afterword that he did start out satirically, but found the book morphing into more than just that. I get that: just because something is a little bizzaro doesn't mean it has nothing to say. But me, I don't entirely buy anything. Or maybe I buy it all, just a little. When The Stars Are Right: Towards An Authentic R'lyehian Spirituality is, however, an excellent meditative exercise for those curious Mythos-minded among us.

4 stars.

* Since to all other evidence he has a working sense of humor, I was surprised that Jones rails rather harshly at Cthulhu's status as a pop-culture icon. My first stuffed Cthulhu was hand-made, and came from a tiny, eldritch ad in the back of Rolling Stone. That was a long time ago, and I have acquired a metric fuckton more icons since - cute, sad, ugly, furry, plastic, resin, unsettling - one even starred in a silly photo project of mine. That in no way detracts, for me, from the essential literary or psychological power of the symbol, in all His forms.

Now I really want a Cthulhusattva figure. Crap.

[Michael Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting collection of essays and observations on what author Scott Jones calls the Black Gnosis, or R'lyehian spirituality. Essentially the great old ones of Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos are recast into their most archetypal forms, serving as avatars of primal energy, primordial life, and oneiric states of creativity. Jones treats his subject seriously, but with a healthy dose of both wit and humor, and creates something clever and unique amongst the oceans of puerile pastiches of Lovecraft. Definitely recommended for fans of HPL and perhaps even a few spiritual seekers out there. As long as you're not taking yourself too seriously I think you'll have fun with this inventive spin on the mythos.

[J K · Rating 4 out of 5]

An oddly human account of what it means to accept your insignificance in the wide expanse of the universe. It's not a joke, unless it is, and all the more interesting for it. H P Lovecraft's influence is wide reaching and mysteriously insightful - even he didn't know what he had tapped into. Recommended.

[David Leingang · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review from Unspeakalbe Gibberer

What Mr. Jones has accomplished is beyond any Cult of Cthulhu, or Esoteric Order of Dagon. It is not so much a practice of occultism, but rather a philosophical approach to what Lovecraft may have been hinting at in his writings. Taking a more poignant stance behind Shub-Niggurath, Nyarlathotep, and Dagon and unveiling a study in character of each of the gods, taking into account what they stand for and what teachings they have in store for those who are enlightened by what Jones identifies as, The Black Gnosis.

This is technically the Zen of the R’lyehian. The knowledge and understanding, of what it means to truly believe the dreams that Cthulhu is broadcasting, and the acknowledgment that Nyarlathotep lies behind every message, both heard and unheard. But this is a level of clarity that is not reached through meditation, but rather through Divinely inspired Madness. It’s that moment, Jones explains, when the protagonist catches the merest glimpse of Dagon’s form as it embraces the white monolith and is plunged into a madness. The moment when Danforth peaks out side of the escaping plane in Mountains of Madness and sees the Plateau of Leng. That is the Black Gnosis.

Amid the teachings and direction induced by Jones, are personal events that endeavored the author to write such a tome. It is through these shared experiences that we begin to see a partial biography that guides the reader down the path Jones took toward finding his own R’lyehian spirituality.

I say his own, because this book does not possess a formatted practice for each follower. Rather asserts each reader to discover their own path, create their own altar, and write their own tome/Necronomicon to follow. There are no gods to worship, yet through the teachings that are presented through Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth, Shub-Niggurath, and Dagon, one can find the advice and guidance needed to creating their own path. This outlook on religion being about philosophies and not consistent worship is a method of spirituality that allows the practitioners of it’s faith to find inner strength and peace of mind – or lack of it through the Black Gnosis – *wink wink.*

I say his own, because this book does not possess a formatted practice for each follower. Rather asserts each reader to discover their own path, create their own altar, and write their own tome/Necronomicon to follow. There are no gods to worship, yet through the teachings that are presented through Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth, Shub-Niggurath, and Dagon, one can find the advice and guidance needed to creating their own path. This outlook on religion being about philosophies and not consistent worship is a method of spirituality that allows the practitioners of it’s faith to find inner strength and peace of mind – or lack of it through the Black Gnosis – *wink wink.*

[Erin the Avid Reader ⚜BFF's with the Cheshire Cat⚜ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must say, taking the Cthulhu Mythos and translating it into a Jungian/Freudian occultic study with inspirations from Allister Crowley mixed with Eastern and Tantric thought is certainly original, and I didn’t ever think that it would come to be.

But why not? Lovecraft’s work is a goldmine for philosophical interpretation. I recently read an essay that compared the works of Lovecraft with the material philosophy of Ayn Rand. Incredible work. What parallels people can draw is just fascinating to me!

Speaking of parallels, the author certainly did research on comparative religions before he wrote this work. I noticed references to Mithraism, Hinduism, Islam, Manichaeism, etc. in many intermingling paragraphs while creating an original philosophy. I liked that. It shows how, since humans cannot even begin to fathom Lovecraft’s monstrosities, how they will create or rely on universal archetypes to represent these alien beings.

And yet that also kinda works against the book’s favor. Can we really center an organized spirituality around such chaotic creatures and maddening worlds? Perhaps what the author was indicating was deep beneath the madness is a rational, enlightening blip we can follow into the abyss. Maybe I simply like some things to remain a mystery. Let them remain insane! Maybe I don’t want. to venture forward towards a blasphemous, Cyclopean mass of protoplasm, and writhing feelers in a Tartarean wasteland of non-Euclidean geometry. But there are those who walk alone, and maybe within all that is a beauty some with a very different slant of mind can appreciate.

Maybe I just like to imagine the works of Lovecraft as being in their own entire realm of understanding. That is, they cannot be understood. At all. No matter how advanced our science may be to venture into the cosmos, there’s just those beings that lay out in the aeons that cannot be perceived. Is this being spiritually hopeful? Ignorant on humans capabilities? Or a dismal dread that lays dormant in our psyche that becomes disturbed when we encounter our absolute worst fears?

I think these questions are asked by many who study wierd fiction, but are rarely answered with as much thought, humor, and a perceptive eye as Jones. Highly recommend this one.

[Franklin · Rating 1 out of 5]

* * *
Updated: November 24, 2014

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“When the Stars Are Right: Towards an Authentic R'lyehian Spirituality” by Stephen R Jones (2014) is a book attempting to impress its readers by pretending to offer greater wisdom than it actually possessed.

It fails even in that.

There are many, many things wrong with “When the Star Are Right” both as a book and as a spiritual philosophy. (I almost wrote “a non-fiction” book, but given what Jones’ has actually written, I think of this book as “a work of fantasy.”)

One of the first signs of trouble is Jones’ use of Big Words, a common problem I have seen in a large number of books, where the author believes his “important” thoughts can only be expressed using Big Words, ones that many readers would not be familiar with, thus making it more difficult for the reader to understand the ideas and concepts being given themselves.

Jones himself demonstrates this fact when at one point footnoting a word in the main text with a definition for it.

A book’s purpose is communication. Part of the purpose of philosophy is to share the concept and viewpoint of philosophical principles to others. If one cannot explain such things using standard language, one not only fails their audience, they also often show the lack of understanding a person has in their own beliefs.

There are many mistakes made in the concept of this “philosophy”. One blatant example is the introduction of Christian aspects into the text to use in comparison with Jones’ “R’lyeh” beliefs. Anyone familiar with H.P. Lovecraft’s themes and concepts knows his worldview was very much opposite Christianity and religions in general.

When Jones’ attempt to show similarities between the two, he undermines his own attempts to create a “R’lyeh” spirituality.

(As an aside, I have to say I personally found both puzzling and annoying Jones’ constant use of the word “R’lyeh” when the proper choice many times would have been “R’lyehian.” *shrug*)

One passage in particular, I think, demonstrates Scott Jones’ failure in what he believes he doing by his repeated lack of knowledge and understanding of Lovecraft himself and what is "R'lyehian":

Jones writes:

“Lovecraft, in another letter to his correspondent, acolyte, and friend August Derleth, would claim that Yog-Sothoth” was far becoming an “immature concept” for him, but I contend that this is due more to Lovecraft’s own low level of spiritual development (and childish predilection for demonization of things he did not understand) than to any inherent immaturity of the idea of Yog-Sothoth itself.” For as a concept, Yog-Sothoth is, yes, serene. Serene and primal.”

This one paragraph has so many problems it is difficult to know where to start.

Well, let me begin with the idea that over time, as Lovecraft grew older and his personal and thematic understanding can be seen to mature, Jones believes instead Lovecraft was becoming *immature* because “Lovecraft’s own low level of spiritual development” had somehow remained fixed and undeveloped.

Jones' premise is H.P. Lovecraft must have been of low-level "spiritual development" because he does *not* agree with what Jones' believes.

Much has been made of Lovecraft’s racism, one of the things that was, in Jones’ words, due to his “childish predilection for demonization of things he did not understand.” However, reading Lovecraft’s later stories -- in this case two of his longest works, “At the Mountains of Madness” and “The Shadow Out of Time” -- clearly show that Lovecraft, while retaining the concept of Cosmic Horror, is now seeing the alien as equal to and even *being* human.

Jones dismisses this, because it does not fit with *his* personal understanding of Yog-Sothoth, failing to see that Lovecraft’s understanding is, in fact, both more intellectually and philosophically mature than his own.

Then there is this: “For as a concept, Yog-Sothoth is, yes, serene. Serene and primal.”

Jones is referring here to the long Necronomicon “quote” that appears in “The Dunwich Horror”, the story with the greatest use of Yog-Sothoth by Lovecraft. The Old One might be serene in Itself -- but as for humans? Lovecraft continued in this same quote: “As a foulness shall ye know Them. Their hand is at your throats, yet ye see Them not.”

There is also Jones' repeated misunderstandings or misrepresentings of what Lovecraft writes, which Jones fits into his own concepts like the cliché square peg in a round hole. One blatant example of this is when Jones writes:

"And if All are One in Yog-Sothoth, then it follows that All are, in some way, Yog-Sothoth. Each of is a Gate and a Guardian and a Key".

That is *not* authentic.

Lovecraft wrote no such concept. What H.P. Lovecraft *did* write was:

"Past, present, future, all are one in Yog-Sothoth."

The past, the present, and the future are *All* that are One. Lovecraft never meant this to be refer to humanity or human individuals. Jones presents a claim that is based on a false premises, making his conclusion logically false.

There are so many such errors -- along with others of different sorts -- in Jones' fantasy book that "The Stars Are Right" just shreds itself apart logically and rationally.

Perhaps the greatest flaw in Jones’ attempt to create a R’lyehian spirituality/philosophy is his total failure to understand the nature of Cosmic Horror is not only that “There are some things Man was not meant to know”, but also “There are some things Humanity cannot ever understand.”

The core problem I see with the “spirituality” of “The Stars Are Right” is Jones does not understand what he is writing is *not* an original philosophy, but rather a work of deconstructionism, the idea that what literature or philosophy says in a piece of writing does not have just one meaning and that the meaning depends on the reader.

Simply, what Jones has written in “When the Stars Are Right: Towards an Authentic R'lyehian Spirituality” is not in any way an objective, reasoned, and consistent spiritual philosophy of the *concept* of R’lyeh, but rather what he just thinks it is. His book itself shows he hasn’t thought about this very well.

What is regrettable is that Jones apparently believes his misguide spirituality is real and wants others to as well.

Finally, as an ebook I think it is very over-priced.
* * *

[Justine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not what you'd call a "spiritual" gal. I like my smut, and my lovers, and a good deal of great food and decent booze. Jones is a co-editor on a couple of books we've worked on, so maybe I'm biased, but even I wasn't ready for how transcendent and lovely this book is. If I were to suddenly get me to a nunnery, I'd choose some non-Euclidean shoggoth-run joint in the twisty depths of R'lyeh, and all because I read 'When The Stars Are Right'! Jones makes a life of Lovecraftian mysticism extremely attractive. It is highly likely that you will never read anything like this.

[Darren Mitton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Masterfully combines the philosophies of Robert Anton Wilson, Anton Lavey, Venger Satanis (Darell Dickshaw), H.P. Lovecraft, Aleister Crowley & the great Al Azif by Dan Clore as well as the "Simon" edition Necronomicon into a VERY interesting, surprisingly well presented piece as driving force!!! Highly recommended to left-hand-path chaos-practitioners, occult practitioners & Lovecraft aficionados!!

[Joe Crow · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is probably the clearest expression of a transhuman spiritual philosophy that I've yet found. I would dearly love to have had the opportunity to see what Robert Anton Wilson would have thought of this. I'll be re-reading this one for some time.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very thin book that is thick with conceptual structure. Jones attempts to create a general Black Gnosis which goes beyond the lip service paid by the casual cultist and Cthulhu fanboy (descriptors that likely fit me) and create a genuine spiritual and philosophical framework based upon the tenants of the Mythos material. I think that he succeeds, at least in part.

Make no mistake, this is not easy reading and may offend a number of people. It is also dense reading, not a "burn through it in an afternoon" book despite its scant 128 pages. Still, as an intellectual exercise it is thought provoking.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, so, to start with a few things:
1. I'm an athiest, don't consider myself particularly smug about it but I also haven't seen anything spiritual that really appeals. You do you athiests and non-athiests!
2. Didn't really have a good grasp of spirituality to begin with. My experience is pretty much some variety of church very early in life that included silly metaphors about how god makes me better and what the author describes as new age plague that had equally little appeal.
3. I like Lovecraftian fiction. I've read a handful of his stories and others in the mythos and I enjoy creative weird tales stuff. I feel like people have embraced what his work created without really figuring out where it comes from in the form of merchandise, roleplaying games and 'Lovecraftian' as used for as a tag line for 'things that are weird with tentacles in it' but this is how things work nowadays, few things aren't going to be simplified, sanitized and mass produced that do not have a market for it somewhere, ignorant of origins or not.

So I picked up a Lovecraftian fiction collection from Storybundle a while ago and expected a lot of fiction. I did get a lot of fiction but I didn't really expect this one.

I've been told that great writing often defies paraphrase. If that's all it takes this book certainly has it down. But I'm gonna try, so forgive me:

It's Zen and the art of Cthulhu for cultist dummies.

Okay, so Gnosis is a word that comes from Greek, it apparently a common noun for knowledge over there. Over here (in America, where I live) it's often attributed to mystic knowledge, sometimes associated with an altered state.

For this book, a variety of essays about this author's experiences in R'lyehan spirituality, the focus is on Black Gnosis, which for this author is an altered state somewhere in a different sort of madness. Not like certifiable condition but a removal of the rational parts of the brain that have been established through various means to allow one to function normally in society. It's what is described in Cthulhu's debut story as the "deadly light" that most men will flee from into ignorance and dark ages. It's a sort of cosmic awareness unburdened by what we humans do.

Sounds crazy right?

To be honest I was on board for most of it: using the mythos' various gods via some kind of rationale, the dark lessons they teach us and what we can learn from them. There's frank discussion about identity and sexuality, about discarding the tentacle props and descriptions of stories and to embrace cosmic horror, to spread that horror so others can be liberated from their pathetic rationalizations for what they do and why.

It's kinda fun when it's put that way, less nihilism and more going with the flow but also corrupting it. A message I can sort of get behind.

Then there was the essay about going to a beach in the middle of the night and screaming glossalia and quotes from Lovecrafts' fiction to an audience, half naked wearing a mask and surrounded by weird occult props.

This is the part I'm less into. This book, by the way, did not give instructions on how to do this, just went into a full description of what he was doing one night. The book doesn't give a lot of instructions period, in fact it describes the all important Black Gnosis as indescribable. Not a single page is devoted to specific ritual or spells, in fact it derides other tomes that attempt it. This is more just a general understanding of what a 'R'lyehan' spirituality and philosophy entails with a few examples from the author's personal experience.

What does it mean to me? Well, it's an interesting insight into modern spiritual practice and belief systems I didn't have before, it's a kind of cosmic horror I appreciate, and the philosophical message is entertainingly unique in it's presentation. Dunno if I would do it (again half naked screaming glossalia is not my thing) but it makes me consider what Black Gnosis might be like, what cosmic horror fiction could be nowadays, and that maybe someone else gets Lovecraft the way I do.

[👑 💀 · Rating 3 out of 5]

It seems Jones is both educated and well-read, and he even possesses a rather erudite vocabulary. The ideas in the opening chapters are at times enlightening as Jones more or less uses deconstruction criticism to approach Lovecraft's mythos through a philosophical lens. Unfortunately, after the first couple of essays, Jones doesn't really have anything else interesting to say, and the book devolves from a scholarly-yet-accessible deliberation regarding the unique philosophical qualities of Lovecraft's cosmos to what is, date I say, a back-filler stack of amateur, rambling essays with no direction or unified message, which causes one to quickly lose faith in the author altogether.

Still, I must admit that in the latter half of the book there are a couple of keeper essays with original, intriguing thought, especially "The Unbearable Strangeness of Being: Sex and R'lyehian," so I can't exactly bash the entire collection. What I believe happened is that Jones amassed all of the essays he'd ever written on Lovecraft and published them together under the guise of a book with a homogenous flavor or message, but unfortunately that is not the case here. Instead, he should have just submitted the decent essays for individual publication in journals and left the rest of the filler to either be revised further or perhaps unpublished.

In the end, I'd rather pay the same price for a handful of clever essays than be forced to trudge through the mud to find a few stray diamonds in the rough. Nevertheless, I wouldn't be surprised to find some of these essays in the bibliographies of other critical works on Lovecraft--Jones certainly has a handful of new refreshing ideas, albeit ideas that are sometimes difficult to extract.

[Rodrigo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is a book worth reading, I would call it an introduction to a "darker" spiritualism using the Cthulhu Mythos as symbolism to describe the indescribable. There is profound knowledge within its pages, maybe I didn't agree with many points, but even so I think it's so lucid and easy to understand.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Ah!" we will say. "We understand!" But we understand nothing, for there is nothing to understand.

[Geoff Gander · Rating 5 out of 5]

"When The Stars Are Right" isn't a novel, nor is it a collection of essays on Lovrcraftian or Mythos thinking. I would classify it more as a thought experiment to build a spiritual framework, using the principles and cosmology developed by Lovecraft. And I have to say it succeeds beautifully.

Mr. Jones explores "R'lyehianism" (a term used to distance what he has developed from the classic Cthulhu Mythos) through a philosophical lens, and in doing so develops a system of thought on the true nature and meaning of Yog-Sothoth, Shub-Niggurath, Dagon, Nyarlathotep, and of course Cthulhu. He also explores the meaning of death to a follower of such a faith; of sex; the role of R'lyeh as a place (yet not a place) in a follower's imagination; and he writes extensively on the true goal of the follower of the Old Ones - the Black Gnosis.

The academic (yet still approachable) tone of the book may put some people off, but horror writers interested in weird fiction, serious Lovecraft scholars, and people open to some recreational brain-warping will find this an enjoyable trip. I devoured the book in less than 24 hours, and for me that's saying a lot.

In the forward, Jordan Stratford writes, "You can take your head apart with this book if you like, but you will never get it back together again."

I'll let you decide...

[Daniela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not expect this book to be as good as it is. Let's be honest, it's a spiritual look into the Mythos, it doesn't get any weirder than this. I even thought it was a joke, but now I'm not so sure, because the author sure makes it sound like he is serious. But you know what? I don't care. All I care about is that the writing is phenomenal, the prose dynamic, the subject completely original (as far as I know) and everything makes scarily perfect sense. I loved this book, I think it's fantastic and I don't care if it started as a joke or not, I enjoyed it immensely and everyone should read it.

[Sylri · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got over halfway through, up to the point where Mr.Jones goes into his practical experiences of what it's like to live as a R'lyehian. And I wanted to put the book down, but I managed to power through to see if I could maybe scrape something worthwhile out of this book. Alas, it was not to be.

I'm not sure what I was expecting when I picked this one up. I suppose I was expecting a more down to earth takeaway from the philosophy of Lovecraft's works and creations, something a little more like thought experiments and less New Agey spirituality (funny as he seems to put down the New Age movement). I'm all for feeling in awe of the wonders of the vastness of the universe, and I probably even take away a more positive note from Lovecraft's stories than he intended (such as in "The Shadow Over Innsmouth"). I just can't take the dreaming seriously and talking about Lovecraftian entities like they're actual cosmic forces that resemble universal truths. Or gibbering and barking euphoria.

But I suppose I'm just one of those 'self-blinded earth gazers' Jones doesn't name as such but nevertheless points out and belittles as casuals not 'in on it'.

I'm sure this book is great stuff for its intended audience, I'm just not one of them.

[Toad Doctor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book of Scott R Jones possesses that rare quality that I seek in the written word; like Terrence McKenna and Brian Eno, his writing has the ability to change the way I think about and approach the world on a fundamental level. Or maybe it merely confirms my own long-held beliefs.
To oversimplify things (think of this as my elevator pitch), this book is not about Lovecraft or his “monsters”. Instead, Jones uses the creatures of the Mythos as avatars and illustrations to represent different aspects of his philosophy; instead of turning away, we should welcome the chaos, fear, and madness inherent in our world and in our own minds and use these forces as a means for personal discovery and growth, wherever it might lead.
Or that's what I got out of it, anyway.
You may form an entirely different interpretation.
That's what kind of book this is.
At times the writing is passionate, occult, esoteric, funny, and deeply personal. At other times it reads as a manuscript penned by one of Lovecraft's own “heroes” after a harrowing encounter with the Old Ones. Jones' use of language here is often poetic and at times astonishing.
This book is a a report from the edge that encourages you to embrace and cultivate the deeply weird in your life.

[Sakis Axiotis · Rating 1 out of 5]

As a huge H.P. Lovecraft and occult fan,I tend to buy books and other stuff around the Mythos.
This is how I came to buy this book.
Unfortunately the way the book is written I barely managed to read a couple of pages every now and then.
The impression I got is that it's very badly written with fragments of hate speech from someone who hasn't been able to put his thoughts together.
Hard pass.

[Miguel Ángel Moreno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leído en inglés. Me ha resultado curioso.

[Aman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scott is a great guy, and his writing is down to Earth and fun to read! He is very popular in the mythos community. Highly recommend.

[Audrey Driscoll · Rating 4 out of 5]

The subtitle of this book could just as easily be A Rhapsody On Themes Of H.P. Lovecraft.

While reading the first few chapters, my biggest problem was trying to figure out what it is: serious literary criticism, parody, philosophy, humour or a weird amalgam of them all?

One thing it isn't, I soon realized, is any kind of explication or critique of H.P. Lovecraft. Scott Jones makes this clear from the get-go: We thank him [Lovecraft] for his art, then, and acknowledge the suffering that produced it, even as we leave the man (a random confluence of flesh and foibles, if ever there was one) in the ground.

Jones doesn't think much of HPL, referring to him more than once as "malnourished," as though this aspect of the Old Gentleman's life extended to his personality and creative abilities. But Jones has a lot of time for HPL's creations, especially Cthulhu. "Look, Howard," he says, "you've made some pretty nice things here -- Yog-Sothoth, Chthulu, R'lyeh, the Necronomicon -- just leave them to me. Go away, eat some beans, write a few letters, while I play with your toys."

Don't read this book expecting to find out much about Howard P. Lovecraft. It isn't about him. It's about things that happened in Scott R. Jones's brain after reading Lovecraft and a lot of other stuff. Everything went into that cranial Mixmaster and out came R'lyehian spirituality.

So what is "R'lyehian spirituality?" According to Jones, it's a lifelong quest for the Black Gnosis (a wonderful phrase, that you won't find in HPL, by the way). And what is the Black Gnosis, you ask? It's the realization in the fullest sense that "when all is madness, there is no madness." It is a knowledge, deeply felt and internalized, not of That Which Is, but of That Which Is Not; a profoundly instinctual apprehension of the liminal spaces, in-between-ness and porosity of the world, of the Unknown.

In making his argument, Jones often slips in key words and phrases from HPL -- the very title of his book is one, along with others, such as: serene and primal, placid island of ignorance, non-Euclidean, tittering, vigintillions, strange aeons, and, of course, the Three-Lobed Burning Eye. They serve as props and springboards to the Spaces Between, and to R'lyeh. Jones gets pretty lyrical about R'lyeh. The chapter on that Dreaming City, and the one on Cthulhu, the Lord of Dreams, are the most poetic parts of the book.

At the same time, When the Stars Are Right in many paragraphs reads like an academic thesis. Where else would you find words like asemic, oneiric, telluric and entheogenic? Jones sprinkles these proofs of an extensive vocabulary throughout the book. Looking up their meanings can be regarded as an educational bonus, albeit an irritating one.

It's clear that Jones professes to be a R'lyehian. One chapter describes an event intended to invoke the Black Gnosis, performed on an August night at a location just a few kilometers from my home here in the city of Victoria. (And indeed, in 2010 I myself attended H.P. Lovecraft's 120th Birthday Celebration and Cthulhu-riffic Cabaret, organized and hosted by Scott Jones). I even wrote a blog post about it. R'lyehians, Jones says, are subtle folks. They may carry some beliefs in their craniums that many would find bizarre, but those craniums are, more often than not, topped with groomed and barbered hair, and the bodies they're attached to are clad in perfectly normal garments. R'lyehians dwell among us, but don't flaunt it. (I'm not sure if I find that disturbing or reassuring).

Anyone who cracks this book but is put off by the weirdness emanating from it, or merely by Jones's excessive enthusiasm for obscure words, should read the Afterword before giving up: "Yes, Meridian, There Is A Great Cthulhu." For Scott Jones is a husband and father. The book is dedicated to his daughter Meridian, who came into the world just after he finished the first draft. In the Afterword, he offers her some advice about how to deal with fear. It's a (mostly) sincere and even touching wrap-up for the book.

[Brian O'Connell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not a spiritual person, but this book touched a nerve for me. An astoundingly mind-bending examination of Jones' so-called "Black Gnosis" - a Nirvana-esque state of dark enlightenment; the "R'lyehian Spirituality" Jones proposes is a type of positive nihilism. the personal bits of the book are funny, occasionally frightening, and often surprisingly touching.

A philosophical excursion recommended to everyone, even the most virulent materialist.

[Gevera Piedmont · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is really a comprehensive outline of religion based on Lovecraft's mythology. Extensively researched and thought-out.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating approach to the Mythos.