Jennifer McPhee
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (July 24/02) - Fran Harvie is a spiritual consultant in Ontario who helps people find things -- missing people, lost artifacts and, most recently, diamonds.

This month, Harvie testified during an Ontario Securities Commission disciplinary hearing. It seems the company she recently assisted -- Lydia Diamond Exploration of Canada -- didn't register as a public company in the 1990s when it raised more than a million dollars from shareholders.

But that's besides the point right now. What I want to know is how Harvie finds stuff and if she's considered heading north to diamond country.

"If they want me up there, they could certainly call me," said Harvie.

But she wants to make some things clear.

She doesn't fly on a broomstick. She thinks those 1-900 line, celebrity psychics have given the profession a bad rep. And she's no substitute for a good geological team.

OK, so how does it work?

With diamonds on the mind, Harvie lays her hands above a map and senses where the rocks might be located.

Then, she goes to the actual site with a couple of "dowsing rods."

"We feel the vibrations of whatever it is we have set our minds to look for," she says. The rods lead her to a point, and when they cross, that's the spot.

But Harvie said she didn't actually discover any diamonds. She says there was an ongoing geological investigation in the area before she popped into the picture.

"Basically I just pointed out where I sensed them" she says. That led them to "target areas."

According to Harvie, the mining industry has used dowsers for centuries.

And while she'd be willing to help diamond exploration in the North, she says the market's probably covered -- she thinks most companies have their own dowsers.

Harvie says she has special psychic gifts. She frequently gets visions and messages, especially at night, and was born with a mask -- another layer of thin skin -- over her face which she says is a sign of second site.

Harvie says anyone can dowse. You don't even need any fancy equipment, she says, while encouraging me to try it in my office.

"You'd need a couple broken coat hangers and off you go."