Rest easy, Toledo. It's going to be a good year - mostly. Well, that's what local psychics and astrologers are telling us, anyway.

The heavens and tarot cards, tea leaves and crystal balls, and extrasensory perception indicate happy times for Toledo, and a mixed bag for the rest of the world.

"I think 2002 is going to be a really good year," predicts astrologer Janet Amid, whose office is in Sylvania. "We'll start to feel it as early as Feb. 7. By March 2 we will feel the lift considerably."

It might even be a notch better than just plain good. "I just feel overall that it's going to be one of our better years," she says. We travel in 12-year cycles, she explains, and the trip we're ending has been bumpy. "Since 1989-'90 we have been going through a lot of transition. I feel we're coming full course. We're at a turning point in our lives where we are beginning a whole new cycle," Ms. Amid says.

The craziness spawned last year by what she calls a "Pluto/Saturn opposition" should ease up, and our tension should begin to melt away. "We are not going to feel as stressed as we have been since Sept. 11," she promises. "Situations will begin to repair themselves."

She expects that March 2 also will be the start of an economic turnaround and an upward climb for the stock market - something that's bound to make people feel better.

Need another reason to feel good?

"I think Julia Roberts will probably get married by late summer," Ms. Amid says.

Jan Gilson, owner of Knowledge, et al at Cricket West, consulted her tarot cards for a glimpse into Toledo's short-term future.

The cards indicate an upswing in the economy - but we'll need patience until it arrives.

"Over the next eight months there will be a gradual, slow climb, peaking out around August or so," she says. "It won't be a real quick 'wow,'" she reveals, warning that we may have some minor setbacks along the way.

Ms. Gilson has good news for new Mayor Jack Ford - and for his constituents. We're apparently in good hands.

"He got the card that says all things are possible through faith in oneself. That's his biggest strength - he doesn't doubt himself," Ms. Gilson says. She predicts his first year in office will be remembered for his efforts to promote unity.

Meanwhile, the man he replaced on the 22nd floor of Government Center, Carty Finkbeiner, "is entering a new phase of his own personal evolution," Ms. Gilson says. "He will be doing a lot of soul-searching about what he wants for this next portion of his life. The cards are saying he could do something like consulting or project management."

What's he looking for? According to Ms. Gilson, the cards say he yearns for something "that would really make him feel fulfilled, because that's the most important thing to him, to feel as though he's making a contribution."

Sue Lovett, an astrologer for 30 years, consults the charts at her Talmadge Road office and concurs with the upbeat outlook for 2002. "I think it's going to be pretty good," Ms. Lovett says. "The eclipse pattern that has had a negative effect on Toledo and the United States will end June 24."

She sees what she calls "light at the end of the tunnel in the war on terrorism" by then, as well as economic improvement nationally and locally.

"I also think that Gov. [Bob] Taft is going to be very helpful to us, through perhaps moving jobs here or funneling money to Toledo that we need desperately," Ms. Lovett says. He and the city are astrological allies, she explains. The governor is a Capricorn, as is the city, based on its incorporation date of Jan. 7, 1837.

"The horoscope for the city of Toledo shows that we need to put more emphasis on entertainment and tourism," Ms. Lovett continues.

But Mayor Ford may have to miss out on some of the fun - he's got work to do. "He's going to spark the city," she says. "But he's going to meet with a lot of resistance."

Ms. Lovett is confident he'll prevail, though. "He will be a very effective mayor," she says.

Meanwhile, Dr. Eugene Sanders, superintendent of the Toledo Public Schools, may be relieved to hear that Ms. Lovett sees hope for a better report card for the district.

Signs indicate "There may be some progress by October," she reports.

However, not everyone sees nothing but good times ahead. Kim Zapf is a clairaudient (one who hears something that's real, but not present) with Lite the Way in Lambertville, Mich. Her predictions for 2002 contain good and bad news.

"I think something's going to happen in March on a worldwide scale," Ms. Zapf says during a stream-of-consciousness telephone discussion. "I think it's going to happen overseas, but it'll affect us. I think there will be a war between Pakistan and India. I think we're safe where we live" in the Toledo area.

She pauses.

"I keep thinking a bridge is going to get bombed - like the Golden Gate Bridge," although not necessarily the San Francisco landmark.

"And in February, things might get a little better financially," Ms. Zapf says. "But we're going to have more problems after that."

However, Toledo's future looks good.

"Economically, for Toledo, the downtown area, I got a good feeling about it," Ms. Zapf continues. "I have a good feeling about that stadium."

January, she writes in an e-mail, is "the month for inner peace," and she advises people to "focus on what changes they can make within themselves in order to help this world find more balance."

And area farmers, she adds, can expect plenty of rain in the spring, starting at the end of March. "It is a good idea to plant earlier," she writes.

Which leads us to that prognosticating stand-by, the Old Farmer's Almanac (www.almanac.com is its newfangled progeny).

According to the almanac's annual weather summary for Oct. 2001-Nov. 2002, the southern Great Lakes region (which includes Toledo) will enjoy milder than usual weather through March, but should expect snowstorms in early to mid-February, late March, and early April.

April and May will be milder than normal, and the summer will be hotter than normal, with above-average rainfall. However, September and October will be cooler than normal, with sharp cold in late October.

First Published January 19, 2002, 3:40 p.m.