The scope of Harvey's ability to detect and identify the presence of spiritual forces in wood often appeared limitless. In the case of Moses and the Serpent, Harvey is said to have recognized not only the presence of a spirit, but its exact identity - without having laid eyes on the piece of wood in which it was embedded. Traveling by car with a friend one day, Harvey suddenly exclaimed, "Stop, I've got to get Moses out of the ditch!" Baffled, the friend stopped the car and watched the artist cross the interstate and retrieve a large piece of wood from a ravine. Returning to her studio, Harvey used it in the making of one of her several versions of Moses and the Serpent.

This is Moses, with the rod in his hand. I've got a thing that tells me that I should do the whole thing of Moses' life, see. This is the second Moses here. I think I want to do Moses from the time he was in the basket when Pharoah's daughter found him up until his death. This is when he was sent to Pharoah to tell Pharoah to let God's people go. His power is in his staff here, although he didn't know that. He told the Lord, why send him, because he couldn't even speak well. But see God told him that he would be with him, and he told him to put his hand in his bosom, and he did.

Click here and here to view two short video tours of this piece.