The Princess that contacts angels

Norway's Princess Märtha Louise, daughter of King Harald and Queen Sonja, has emerged as a clairvoyant, and is launching an alternative school aimed at training students to contact angels. Officials at the Royal Palace won’t comment on the princess' latest business venture.

The princess' business partner has publicly confirmed the training program, which is billed as a means of "getting in touch with your own truths" through "readings, healing, crystals and hands-on treatment."

The princess, who still officially represents the Royal Family at various events, has named her new venture after "one of the oldest goddesses in the Middle East," Astarte, and its website is registered at her home address in Lommedalen, just west of Oslo. The telephone number listed is that for the Royal Palace in Oslo.

Even though use of the palace's phone number implies the business is indirectly supported by the Royal Palace, palace officials won't comment on it.

"The palace never expresses itself on the princess' private business ventures," said a tight-lipped Sven Gjeruldsen, information adviser on the palace staff. He referred further questions to the contact information on Astarte’s web site.

The princess wrote on her school's new website, Astarte Education, that she's "always been interested in alternative treatment programs," suggesting she's had psychic abilities since she was a little girl.

"I especially remember one time I met a woman when I was small," Princess Märtha Louise wrote. "I went up to her and said she didn't need to be sad about her husband, that things would go well between them."

The woman was astonished, according to the princess, and "wondered who had told me this. There was a big commotion, and many fearful adults, because none of them wanted her to think one of them had gossiped," Märtha Louise wrote.

The princess has launched Astarte Education with a friend, Elisabeth Samnøy, who describes herself on the website as a former ship mechanic who also attended a holistic academy.

"After that I have been in a process where angels and their frequency opened contact with the divine in my heart," Samnøy wrote.

The pair concedes that their training program isn't sanctioned by Norwegian education authorities. Courses will be offered twice a week over three years, at a cost of NOK 12,000 per half-year.Students are obligated to sign up for at least one year at a time.