It's a Disastrously Fabulous 2025! From Food as Medicine to Saxon Hoards, Dior Dresses and Classic Film Escapism, Let's Go!

Hello Dear Luminary Readers! I would like to wish you a magical luminary new year in 2025 filled with vibrant health, delicious slow organic food from farmers not corporations; adventures great and small; admiring Dior dresses and Battersea cleaning ladies who take Paris by storm with a fearless British chutzpah of which we need more of right now in the UK and just about everywhere. Watch Mrs Harris Goes to Paris read Paul Gallico's uplifting book and embrace that Dunkirk spirit.

An Invitation to Wall in Art, Archaeology and Stargazing

Then, I would like to invite you to spend more time getting lost for a few hours or an entire afternoon in a museum if you want to, soaking up an opulent painting by Burne Jones or an intricate gold cloissone brooch studded with garnets and lapus lazuli that was fashioned in the not so dark ages of the sixth century. When you've wallowed in art and archaeology, how about a night safari or evening walk to gaze up at the heavens on a star-lit night to feel a sense of wonder, connection, excitement and infinite possibilities. Yes, I have been watching The Dig more times than I can tell you, to soak up the inter-connectedness of everything, to learn the names of the consellations and to be glad to be alive, of which more later.

I promise to delight and transport you once again with charismatic, uplifting independent magazine culture journalism and storytelling.

Which brings me to my news about my health recovery and the reason for talking about the joy of roaming!

An Epic Journey to Reclaim My Health and Write More Luminary Journalism

For those of you who have been readers and supporters since I launched the magazine in late 2020, you know that I have been on an epic journey to survive one dose of the Astra Zeneca Covid-19 Vaccine in May 2021, just five months into the successful launch of this magazine. ( I was bullied into taking the vaccine in order to see my suddenly terminally ill mother). As a result, I never got to see my mother in person again before she died three months later.

What a journey of survival and discovery I have been on.

A Journey of Survival and Discovery

The truth is that I came close to not making it in the summer of 2023 and I am very glad to be here and to start my talk show again shortly! I live in the UK, and I declare that it is my life long passion for journalism and my love of research that saved my health.

A Door Suddenly Opened, Illuminating My Path to Health

For sixteen months, I used Dr Peter McCullough's naturopathic detoxification protocol. The protocol saved my life. But I knew I needed to go deeper and find a way to repair my injured immune system, one cell at a time without harsh drugs or medications which don't treat or cure diseases.

Then, a new door suddenly and unexpectedly opened.

After conducting endless research into the immune system and how to recover from autoimmunity through nutrition, I found Nano Soma and Dr Raghavan PH.d, its inventor and his research.

A Policosonal Elixir of Life

Nano Soma, Metodichol R is a policosonal food as medicine elixir of life. The concentrated nanoceutical is delivered as an emulsion made from sugar cane and pristine glacial Swiss water which attaches to the bodies nuclear receptors to make Vitamin D and replace Vitamin C. This action triggers the slow, methodical, optimal functioning of the immune system as evolution intended. You can read all about Dr Raghavan's research in on the National Institute of Health (NIH) public website here.
Metodichol is an an anagram of methodical, which just goes to show that scientists just like poets and writers have a playful sense of fun.

Science Can Be Poetic and Playful

The nanoceutical was launched in 2008 after Dr Raghavan left the pharmaceutical industry as an organic chemist and decided to focus on a drug free approach to the holy grail of health - the quest for equilibrium in the body, based on the principles of evolution. His quest was to discover how to nurture optimal health and longevity by focusing on creating the right conditions for the immune system to do the job that evolution intended. When then immune system is fully operational, there is no room for disease and balance is achieved.

"It's About Changing the Water in the Body, Because Water is Life."

I have been taking the liquid nanoceutical for just over two months and this is my story so far.

Now read on to discover more...

My Story with Nano Soma
My experience of using Nano Soma has been a slow, reasonably quiet process, with the work going on in the background of my everyday life and when I am asleep, except when it wakes me up to fix some process in the body which needs fixing.

The elixir is a liquid emulsion which is taken via a glass dropper under the tongue two to four times a day. The dose is twenty drops per dose. If you prefer, you can also use a spray attachment instead and the dose is six sprays under the tongue. The taste is similar to aloe vera. Interestingly, it tasted quite bitter and yet not unpleasant at the beginning. As my health improved, it now tastes milder.

My Journey with Nano Soma

I have experienced some mild skin rashes on my back and legs which show up for a few days and then they are gone. During my second week, I had headaches on and off for two weeks and they have not returned since. After four weeks, I felt confident enough to stop all my functional medicine supplements, which were causing me considerable financial strain and they only masked the diagnosed autoimmune injury. I had been on ten nutritional supplements for two and half years prescribed by a functional medicine doctor.

A Body Under Quiet Repair

This week, my big toe has suddenly become slightly painful with some moderate bruising and my scalp has felt slightly itchy. When I rubbed the gel version of Nano Soma into the skin, the pain and irritation goes away. When I asked Dr Raghavan about the injuries I experienced and the subtle changes taking place in my body he told me. "Any disease, injury or toxin that should not be in the body will target the extremities because they are the most vulnerable. That includes the eyes and the feet."

This makes sense as the autoimmunity injured my eyes when I lost the ability to make saliva and to maintain moisture levels in different parts of my body.

I can now feel that I am undergoing body repairs!

An Unfolding Health Renaissance
All these minor examples of detoxification have been a walk in the park compared the profound injuries I have suffered from the Astra Zeneca Vaccine.
I also feel that I am slowly calming down from being in a state of red alert and severe trauma. I also realised that for the first time in years, I don't have SAD (seasonal effective disorder) this winter. SAD is associated with low vitamin D levels during winter, particularly in the northern hemisphere. I sleep more deeply, my digestion has improved and the terrible vaccine induced Sjorgren's Syndrome which attacked my gut, bowel, bladder and eyes is slowly becoming milder and milder where it was once unliveable and caused me extreme pain, anxiety and suffering.

Organic Vanilla from Madagascar

I will update you again in the coming months about my continued progress with Nano Soma. I am also trying the light, luxuriant face cream version of Nano Soma, which Dr Raghavan made for his wife. When I look and feel ten years younger, you will be the first to know! In meantime, using the cream is a beautiful ritual as it contains organic vanilla from Madagascar and the smell alone is a sensuous gift from mother nature.

To give you an honest journalistic review of Nano Soma, I paid for my supplies of Nano Soma. As a result of my positive experience with Nano Soma, I want the world to know about this intelligent invention which points the way to a gentle food as medicine revolution.

Now to illuminate Dr Raghavan's work and share the playful mind of an organic chemist, I decided that the next step was to flex my journalistic wings and present my first live interview in three and a half years!

The Return of the Luminary Chat Show

So, on Saturday the 15th of February, paid supporters of the magazine are invited to an invitation only live in conversation interview between me, Alison Jane Reid and Dr Raghavan from London, GMT at 4pm. The interview will last for about an hour and it will be followed by a Q and A. I will be interviewing Dr Raghavan in front of invited online live audience supported by talented film students from Raindance Film School. We will record the interview to embed in The Luminaries Magazine.

During the interview, I will explore Dr Raghavan's life growing up in India, the inspiration he found in Ayurvedic Medicine, Gandhi's teachings and wild elephants. You will have the opportunity to put questions to Dr Raghavan and me and the end of the interview.

A New Luminary Magazine Atelier to Sell Nano Soma

I also asked Dr Raghavan if he would grant me permission to sell Nano Soma via a new Luminary Magazine atelier to help fund the magazine's recovery following my catastrophic injury in 2021. Dr Raghavan has kindly agreed and in return I want to tell stories about Nano Soma and the food as medicine revolution which perfectly reflects the MAHA movement that Robert Kennedy is leading in America.

The Maha Movement and Robert Kennedy Junior

I am very excited to tell you that we will open our shop for pre-orders as close to the interview as possible for UK readers. If you would like to purchase Nano Soma and support the magazine and our student internships and work experience, please email me so we can notify you when the shop goes live and our stock of the Swiss made nanoceutical food of life has arrived. LuminaryMagEditorAJ@Proton.Me

As we go forward, I will also use the shop to sell printed Luminary Magazine Reviews, tickets to shows, events, curated antique and preloved one of a kind slow fashion and some other organic food store cupboard staples made by me, TBA.

The Return of the Luminary Chat Show

Nano Soma is inspired by wild elephants who love to eat sugar cane. Elephants in the wild rarely develop cancer and they live long lives, free of the diseases that effect people in western civilisations. Please email me if you would like to attend and we can add you to the guest list - luminarymageditoraj@proton.me

If you are not a paid supporter, you can subscribe for one month or longer here -Support The Luminaries Magazine - Become a Patron.

Seats are allocated on a first come first served basis. If we run out of capacity, you will be offered a recording of the interview. Do email me by return if you would like to attend.

The Food as Medicine Revolution, Returning to Evolutionary Principles

If you are not a patron of The Luminaries Magazine and you would like to attend the interview. Please take out a paid subscription here and then email to be added to the guest list. This is on a first come first served basis. If we run out of places, you can request a recording. Join our Luminary Tribe.

Hanging out with scientists and picking their beautiful minds is fun and exhilarating. My interview will Dr Raghavan will open your mind to the food as medicine power of wholefoods and explain how the human immune system works based on thousands of years of evolution.

You Are Invited to Our Luminary Magazine Film and Book Club

Now to more about the beautiful ideas, movies, foods and happenings that I would love to share with you for a glorious slow life. A life filled with luminary ideas and inspiration, good health and a real sense of community. On that note I would love to meet you dear readers! Will you come to a bi-monthly film and supper night? Or we could do a film one month and a book the next. The idea would be to pre-watch a film and then discuss it over a virtual organic supper with a recipe for you to cook. Write to me if you would love to come along - LuminaryMagEditorAJ@Proton.Me The club is for paid patrons of the magazine. If you would love to join - please become a supporter here - Support The Luminaries Magazine.

The First film and book we will discuss at the end of February will be The Dig - about the discovery of the Saxon Ship Hoard at Sutton Hoo in 1938-9. The film stars Ralph Fiennes, Carey Mulligan, Johnny Flynn, Lily James, Ken Stott and Ben Chaplin. You can also read the book on which the film is faithfully based by - John Preston. You can pick up a new or second hand copy on World of Books.

Now to more news about The Magazine and my dreams and goals.

The Luminaries Magazine in 2025 and beyond

Get ready for more intimate recorded interviews with actors, artists, musical comets, fashion designers, scientists, foreign correspondents and anyone else I think you would love. Then, I will be sitting in my home screening room to bring you more Luminary film and drama reviews, features on slow and organic food and recipes and how to support our small farmers and producers. Plus evocative slow travel features, stories from lofty museums, slow artisan fashion interviews and features and stories to empower ideas around Robert Kennedy Junior's MAHA movement. Let's spread the idea of MAHA everywhere and create a new age of health, local organic food and going to market to buy ingredients to cook at home with slothful abandon.

Meeting a Sloth in the Rainforest with Film Star Daryl Hannah

Slowness is our super power inspired by the magical sloth I came up close and personal with deep in the rainforest in Belize with film icon Daryl Hannah.
The sloth made me realise that I have always liked to go slow and that taking life slowly is the best way to savour every moment.

The Magical Slow Life of the Rainforest Sloth

The sloth is our mascot, because I never enjoyed rushing... and because we celebrate slowness in all the things that make life wonderful from food to travel, slow fashion to hiking in nature or wandering around an art exhibition that unleashes the imagination, delights us or transports us back in time.

After watching The Dig again about the spectacular Sutton Hoo Saxon Ship Burial find, I fancy a trip to The British Museum in Bloomsbury in London to go and look at the exquisite golden treasures. If you are a fan of The Detectorists, you will have noticed that Lance and Andy never stop talking about Basil Brown's miraculous ship burial discovery at Sutton Hoo - it's their inspiration!

Basil Brown - Archaeologist, Astronomer and Man of the Suffolk Soil

The Dig is a thrilling recreation of Basil Brown's excavation in 1938/9. Ralph Fiennes brings Basil this man of the Suffolk Soil to life and celebrates the remarkable self taught archaeologist, writer, astronomer and scholar. The brave, out of this world scene in the ship where Robert takes the queen home, makes me yearn to celebrate our place in the galaxy and throw a midnight stargazing party, lying on the earth, feeling grounded, looking at the big dipper and Venus ... so, maybe, it's time to buy a vintage telescope. Read my Dig Review here and watch The Dig on Netflix and come to our film and supper night at the end of February!

After I've had my fill of sophisticated Saxon treasure, I will make a beeline for seriously good tea and cake at the London Review Bookshop as I daydream and watch the world go buy. If you fancy a museum trip followed by eating cake surrounded by books, here is a link to this wonderful cafe, which also offers vibrant Mediterranean inspired lunches.

Soon, I will unveil our updated magazine logo inspired by my encounter with the sloth. Visiting the rainforest in Belize was just like falling down the rabbit hole like Alice. I felt like Alison in Wonderland, as I gazed in wonder at a florescent red tree frog, a deadly poison bark tree, the magical, allspice bush used in gentlemen's toiletries and a croc basking on the lagoon at midnight who was clearly considering a midnight feast.

If you haven't visited the rainforest, just go soon! This is mother nature in all her power, technicolour and infinite variety, and we must protect her. If you would like to find out more about tracts of rainforest and how to protect them, take a look at The World LandTrust who act as custodians of areas of rainforest across our earth. The trust looked after us on the ground in Belize as Daryl and I went in search of the elusive jaguar.

Now to more ways to escape, feel alive and enjoy delicious food that based on my coping strategies in the face of catastrophe!

More Luminary Ideas for Intelligent Escapism

I have fought so many battles, rather like the Alexander Dumas and his Count of Monte Cristo. How have I coped? Let me count the ways. My sending SOS messages to world renowned doctors and scientists, like Peter McCullough and Dr Raghavan, deploying food as medicine from bone broth to raw milk and escaping into the world of golden age film, books and seriously good dark chocolate.

Slow Artisan Chocolate Makers and Golden Age Film Classics

In no particular order, I love BlanxArt Chocolate and Willy's Cacao dark chocolate buttons and 100% fruit and nut bars and their zingy ginger and lime bar. Sublime dark chocolate is as complex as a grand cru wine. Do take a look at both artisanal, slow producers. They look after their farmers and produce exquisite authentic dark chocolate that takes the chocolate connoisseur on a journey of complex flavours and storytelling from bean to scrumptious silken bar.

As for films, which I am totally obsessed with my current favourites are - Now Voyager, The Age of Adeline, The Dig , The Mirror Has Two Faces, Mrs Harris Goes to Paris and Love Affair 1939 . When I need a glam pick me up I watch the original version of Love Affair with the marvellous Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne.

A Satire on the Goldfish Bowl of Celebrity

Love Affair 1939 is far more alluring, witty, honest and sublimely glamorous than the Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr version. It's also a fizzing, razor sharp satire on the inconvenient misery of celebrity when you are in love! Oh and the clothes distil the height of thirties style and a time when crossing the Atlantic by boat and flaunting a gilded gown and black tie was all the rage and the only way travel, slowly and decadently.

Love Affair 1939 is available on BBC iPlayer in the UK, you might snap up a DVD on eBay or you can buy a collectable DVD from The Criterion Collection.

Escapism and comedy has helped me, functional doctors orders.

But here's the thing, as I have learned over the past three and a half years, the body can recover and food as medicine, laughter, love, community and time is the answer.

For me this now includes a big glass of sweet, scrumptious, organic raw milk from Emma's Pasture for Life Organic Dairy at Gazegill Organic Farm to start my day. Raw milk is the perfect superfood for the gut biome. I can't wait to visit the farm and go and enjoy a farm to fork feast at the farm restaurant -

Farm to Fork Luminary Organic Food Guide

The farm has been in Emma family for five hundred years. Small farmers need our support now. Read our growing guide on how to buy real, delicious food direct from farmers and protect our right to choose healthy, nutritious, safe food free of pesticides and antibiotics.

The Joy of Slow Travel and Roaming Here, There, Everywhere.

Now that I am getting stronger, I can't wait to roam journalistically, here, there and everywhere again to delight you with more real journalism and storytelling that you just won't find anywhere else. I have been in love with magazines since I was a teenage girl.

I do love hanging out with luminaries from leading actors to scientists and picking their beautiful minds! Science is fun and so is the next interview prospect.. who knows who my next interview will be. That's the thrilling part and the ability to continue to do what I love.

Now, don't forget to send me an email and come to the gala interview with Dr Raghavan on the 15th February at 4pm. The interview will illuminate you life and empower you to join the food as medicine renaissance.

Email me if you would love to come along - LuminaryMagEditorAJ@Proton.Me

See you soon for our Luminary Interviews and Club - Have a Luminary February and beyond, Alison Jane xxx