First things first: The world is not going to end in 2012.

That’s important to know. Otherwise, the rest of this story is pretty much moot.

President Barack Obama will win a second term in 2012. This winter won’t be too snowy. Someone will buy the Bates Mill in Lewiston, part of an economic turnaround over the next year. There will be breakthroughs and breakups, but life, in general, will start turning more positive.

That’s all according to the spirit world.

Although the New Year is always a time of prediction, 2012 has long been the focus of intense speculation thanks to a rare galactic alignment and the broadly interpreted end of the ancient Mayan calendar. Books have been written about 2012, TV specials aired, websites created, all batting around words like “apocalypse” and “cataclysm,” and questioning whether this particular new year will bring with it the end of the world.

So the Sun Journal asked Vicki Monroe, Maine psychic medium and spirit messenger, for her predictions. On end times. Snow. The Red Sox and the World Series.

“It should be a better season than last year,” she said.

Monroe, 49, says she has been seeing spirits for most of her life. She ignored them for years, until one day she embraced her psychic side.

“I said, ‘OK, I don’t have a choice now. I have to do it,'” she said.

Monroe has appeared on dozens of TV and radio programs, including shows on the Oprah Winfrey Network, the Discovery Channel and the Biography Channel. She consults on cold case investigations and gives personal readings around the world.

Although Monroe typically won’t make predictions about a person’s future — “Because in this life you plan it yourself, individually. And everybody that comes into your life is a part of that plan.” — she agreed to answer questions about 2012. But to be clear, the predictions don’t come from her. They come, she said, from the spirits who come to her.

“I put the call out this morning. I’m just like, ‘OK, whoever’s going to be here today, know your stuff. Follow this stuff because I have not followed certain issues.’ I just haven’t,” she said. “They watch us. They watch what’s going on.”

Including whether the world will end.

“No,” Monroe said. “I can say that with absolute conviction. That is not going to happen. Not even close.”

So no world-ending cataclysm. But 2012 won’t be boring.

State, U.S. and world affairs

* Obama will win re-election. Others won’t.

“They’re saying in the election what’s going to surprise many is that a lot of those Republicans that were voted in … will be voted out,” Monroe said.

* The American economy will improve, and job security will increase. 

“Industry is going to start looking at all these new technologies and saying ‘Do we actually need this type of a technology? Because people used to do these jobs. Let’s bring these back,'” Monroe said. “And also retraining people on technology you don’t want to lose. But there are some things you just don’t need, that have gone too far.”

* Moods will improve, both nationally and worldwide. 

“Everything is going to change. Basically on a global scale we will start looking at things in a positive way,” Monroe said. “What the Mayans said as the end of the world is the end of the world as (far as) nations having to beat each other (to be) No. 1.”

* Maine’s economy will improve, and the state will see job growth. Along with that, there will be the sale of the Bates Mill to … someone. For something.

“I have no idea what the Bates Mill is,” Monroe said. “But from what I’m gathering, someone is going to purchase that and it’s going to bring more jobs into Lewiston.”

* The news isn’t so good for supporters of a single public school campus in Auburn. While the spirits predict a new school in the city’s future and some possible consolidation to deal with health and safety issues of old buildings, they don’t see a mega campus anytime soon.

“They’re saying no. Not now. It’s going to need more time,” she said.

Sports

* Skiers should not count on a snowy winter.

“I think we’ll have several storms in a row, and then all of the sudden it’s gone. I just don’t see from what they’re telling me that this is going to be a very, very … not like last year,” she said.

* The Red Sox won’t make the World Series in 2012, but there’s a good chance of it in 2013. And 2012 won’t be all that bad for Boston baseball. The spirits see them likely making the Wild Card.

“One guy here is saying, ‘I’m from Boston,'” Monroe said. “He’s saying that they bounce back well.”

* Although the New England Patriots recently clinched its division, the spirits don’t see the team making the Super Bowl. The Patriots’ defense just isn’t strong enough, Monroe said. There might also be a potential problem with a key player.

“I just heard somebody say they think that (quarterback Tom) Brady will suffer a major injury,” Monroe said. “That’s not good. God, I hope not. I don’t want to say that. They don’t usually want us to throw things like that out. So I’m just going to say I don’t think they’re going to be in the Super Bowl.”

Entertainment

* The year will potentially feature some high-profile breakups, including possible splits between country singers Tim McGraw and his wife, Faith Hill, actor Will Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, and actor Ben Affleck and his wife, Jennifer Garner.

* Affleck or friend and fellow actor Matt Damon will get heavily involved in politics.

Advances

* Smart TVs will become popular, allowing full integration of computer, phone and video technology.

“More people will be able to work an office job but from home. And a lot of people starting individual businesses because of the technology,” Monroe said.

* There will be new and easy diagnosis — through saliva testing — of two big forms of cancer.

* There will be passage of a new drug that targets the cancer cells in breast cancer, melanoma and other cancers in late stages.

* A new land mass will be discovered on Earth or within the sea.

Life in general

* Life can improve with kindness, patience, less worry. 

“These are all things they on the other side see as occurring or potentially occurring,” Monroe said. “But, really, life’s about living each day.”

Weird, Wicked Weird is a monthly feature on the strange, intriguing and unexplained in Maine. Send ideas, pictures and world peace predictions to ltice@sunjournal.com.

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