2014: Happy New Year from Merlian News to all our readers and podcast listeners! We wish you all a very blessed New Year for 2014 with love, good health, prosperity and increased awareness for all. This year we start the New Year with a New Moon in Capricorn! A SuperMoon with some strong aspects at play calling us to activate and unearth that which has been lying dormant within. The New Moon is also associated with new beginnings and fresh starts, so 2014 may be the year to really start over.

I AM is an utterly engaging and entertaining non-fiction film that poses two practical and provocative questions: what’s wrong with our world, and what can we do to make it better? The filmmaker behind the inquiry is Tom Shadyac, one of Hollywood’s leading comedy practitioners and the creative force behind such blockbusters as “Ace Ventura,” “Liar Liar,” “The Nutty Professor,” and “Bruce Almighty.” However, in I AM, Shadyac steps in front of the camera to recount what happened to him after a cycling accident left him incapacitated, possibly for good. Though he ultimately recovered, he emerged with a new sense of purpose, determined to share his own awakening to his prior life of excess and greed…

Planet Watch for 2014 – Astrology with Pamela Cucinell The overall theme of 2014 is awareness and expansion in work, relationships and our connection with the environment. High financial rewards are not immediate; growth is a process. With both Jupiter (the symbol for luck and fortune) and Venus (symbol for money and love) retrograde in January, the trend is to invest in products and services of lasting value. New Moons open and close January, encouraging forward movement on well-designed strategies.

Keys to Soul Evolution – A Gateway to the Next Dimension by Jill Mara www.simion7d.com Review by Cheryl Shainmark Keys to Soul Evolution is a fantastic book, channeled from a collective of 7th dimension light beings. First published in 2009, this remains a hugely relevent offering for these challenging times. Anyone who is familiar with the works of Barbara Marciniak, or Barbara Hand Clow, will recognize the style and authenticity of this work. As soon as you open this book you will feel yourself spiraling up in vibration and activating a higher awareness.

This CD introduces the student to Tibetan sounds which can have a profound healing and mediative influence…The overtones that are released from these singing bowls have the power to put the body into a highly attuned state of being, creating vibrations that work from the base chakra up to the crown.

I was so impressed with the first treatment from Mitzi that I decided to see her on a regular basis. That was years ago, and since then I have seen a vast improvement in my vitality and health. Mitzi uniquely blends the practice of Jin Shin Jyutsu, the ancient art of balancing body, mind and spirit, into her work, from her twenty years of experience.

What Happens When We Die by Echo Bodine, Review by Cheryl Shainmark There’s a lot of punch in this slim little book — real information about the soul, what it goes through while the body is dying, and tips on what to do and what not to do throughout the process. After so many years of being a healer and psychic, the author has seen it all and offers great anecdotes about the dying process, the funeral, and the afterlife.

Ian Pratiss has a new book out, “Failsafe: Saving the Earth From Ourselves.” The author is a Professor Emeritus, Ambassador for Peace, and Spiritual Warrior for planetary care, peace and social justice. He is the Founder of Friends for Peace and a Zen teacher, poet, and guru in India. His website is www.ianpratiss.com .

Arsenic, a naturally occurring toxin , is found in a variety of foods and beverages: tap water, chicken meat , brown rice , and apple juice are just a few examples. While the EPA and the FDA have set standards for minimal amonts allowed in food and water, it’s possible that those allowed levels are still too high. Certainly, testing and enforcing compliance are problematic. On the alternative medicine website, www.easyhealthoptions.com , Dr. Isaac Eliaz writes, “Tasteless and odorless, arsenic may appear innocuous enough; but, as you should know, it can be a deadly poison when it’s in your food. In sufficient quantities, the metal increases oxidation, destroys cells’ ability to create energy and ultimately causes major organ failure.