Sand and Spice

Bene Gesserit 

              Sisterhood dedicated to ensuring the bloodlines and the creation of the Kwisatz Haderach. silent partner in CHOAM [23]p.588                                        

               "clinging to the Bene Gesserit motto. "We exist only to serve.""[23]p.230

               "out to one of the schools, she thought. The mating index may show what has happened."[23]p.232 obviously there are several Gesserit                          schools, the Mating Index – some breeding record, genetic in nature more than likely. 
               "We of the Bene Gesserit don't break our vows any more than you do,"[23]p.328
               "hinting at the great size of this rock-enclosed space . . . larger, (...) than even the Gathering Hall of her Bene Gesserit school.                                              She estimated there were more than five thousand people gathered a(...) and more were coming."[23]p.401 clear implication that the hall                    in her school was of an impressive size in-itself.

               "She graduated from the Wallach IX B.G. School"[23]p.584

               "there had been rumours that some did not survive the Reverend Mother ordeal, that the drug took them."[23]p.408

               "looking within, and was confronted immediately with a cellular core, a pit of blackness from which she recoiled. That is the place where                        we cannot look, (...) There is the place the Reverend Mothers are so reluctant to mention, the place where only a Kwisatz Haderach may                          look." [23]p.408

               "There is in each of us an ancient force that takes and an ancient force that gives. A man finds little difficulty facing that place within                                himself where the taking force dwells, but it's almost impossible for him to see into the giving force without changing into something                            other than man. For a woman, the situation is reversed.(...)These things are so ancient within us, (...) that they're ground into each                                  separate cell of our bodies. We're shaped by such forces. You can say to yourself, 'Yes, I see how such a thing may be.' But when you                                    look inward and confront the raw force of your own life unshielded, you see your peril. You see that this could overwhelm you. The                                    greatest peril to the Giver is the force that takes. The greatest peril to the Taker is the force that gives. It's as easy to be overwhelmed by                            giving as by taking.""And you, my son,(...)are you one who gives or one who takes?""I'm at the fulcrum," he said.""I cannot give without                            taking and I cannot take without . . . "[23]p.512 
               "You don't understand. Majesty,(...) Not telepathy. She's in my mind. She's like the ones before me, the ones who gave me their                                            memories. She stands in my mind! She cannot be there, but she is!""What others?" the Emperor demanded. "What's this                                                        nonsense?"The old woman straightened,(...) "I've said too much,"[23]p.531  clearly the ability of the Bene Gesserit to pass on life                        experiences to one another during the process of becoming a reverend mother is a secret few know.
               "There are other poisons the Reverend Mothers can use for their tricks, but once they've used the spice liquor, the others no longer                                    work."[23]p.548
               "One thing, Son. Sometimes a dangerous person is prepared by the Bene Gesserit, a word implanted into the deepest recesses by the                              old pleasure-pain methods. The word-sound most frequently used is Uroshnor. If this one's been prepared, as I strongly suspect, that                              word uttered in his ear will render his muscles flaccid and .."[23]p.553
               "In simpler terms, what they sought was a human with mental powers permitting him to understand and use higher order dimensions.                        They were breeding for a super-Mentat, a human computer with some of the prescient abilities found in Guild navigators. Now, attend                          these facts carefully:"[23]p.581
               "Paul Atreides, was the son of the Duke Leto, a man whose bloodline had been watched carefully for more than a thousand years. The                              Prophet's mother, Lady Jessica, was a natural daughter of the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen and carried gene-markers whose supreme                                importance to the breeding program was known for almost two thousand years."[23]p.581
              "How could she know what a child looked like on Bela Tegeuse? (...) But he does!" Alia said, "Subiay's boy looks just like                                                             the son of Mitha born before the parting." [23]p.455  this is an interestng insight into how far back the Memories of                                                                   reverand mothers can go back , I will have to dig further to work out this particular length of time is.

               snippets of  conversation that reveal the Gesserit perpourse;

               "Why do you test for humans?" he asked. "To set you free." [23]p.22
               " 'Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a man's mind,' " Paul quoted.[23]p.22
               "Right out of the Butlerian Jihad and the Orange Catholic Bible,"[23]p.22
               "The Great Revolt took away a crutch," she said. "It forced human minds to develop. Schools were started to train human talents. " [23]p.22
               "We have two chief survivors of those ancient schools: the Bene Gesserit and the Spacing Guild. The Guild, so we think,                                                          emphasizes almost pure mathematics. Bene Gesserit performs another function (...) Politics," he said.[23]p.22
               "Politics indeed. The original Bene Gesserit school was directed by those who saw the need of a thread of continuity in human affairs. They                    saw there could be no such continuity without separating human stock from animal stock, for breeding purposes." [23]p.22
              The test involves pain induction, the Bene Gesserit using their abilities of observation while a subject undergoes pain, as  the pain itself is                      merely an axis of the test. Observing the subject for signs of their humanity in how they manage the pain and the desire to remover their                      hand from it, in the face of death, the Gom Jabba."Our test is crisis and observation."  [23]p.20. We are still left to wonder at what a Bene                        Gesserit observes and how this informs their judgment.

               "There're those who'd give a pretty for the secret of this box, though." [23]p.20, this statement seems to indicate that the                                                          technology of the box is rare as well as expensive, maybe even unique tot he Bene Gesserit themselves.

               Insight into the Bene Gesserit breeding philosophy;

               "But my mother tells me many Bene Gesserit of the schools don't know their ancestry."[23]p.23
               "The genetic lines are always in our records," she said. "Your mother knows that either she's of Bene Gesserit descent or                                                            her stock was acceptable in itself."[23]p.23
               "Then why couldn't she know who her parents are?"[23]p.23
               "Some do . . . Many don't. We might, for example, have wanted to breed her to a close relative to set up a dominant in                                                                some genetic trait. We have many reasons"[23]p.23

               "An Atreides daughter could've been wed to a Harkonnen heir and sealed the breach. You've hopelessly complicated                                                                  matters. We may lose both bloodlines now."[23]p.35

               A question arises here, the Bene Gesserit always seem to use natural procreation to gain and manipulate the genetic lines,                                                    here we see them with their society openly hiding ancestry from individuals. In such an advanced society why not simply                                                      use genetic methods like IV or even cloning to manipulate and advance their genetic manipulations? They obviously don't                                                      want the world to know their trying to create this ultimate being, but again to what ends when you have power what is the                                                    intent behind it, what do they want it for, what is its purpose?  
               "You saw part of what the race needs, but how poorly you saw it. You think to control human breeding and intermix a select few                                          according to your master plan! How little you understand of what-" [23]p.549
               "the Sisterhood's breeding program had sought across thousands of generations."[28]p.8

               Other Referances into Bene Gesserit Ways

               Bene Gesserit Schools, Training lasted at least 14 years.[23]p.17 were some pupils were also serving wenches to the teachers.
               "But the Bene Gesserit ways were devious and compelling."[23]p.69 Lady Jessica.

               Titles

               Lay Sister, "lay sisters at the school had called her skinny"[23]p.65                                        
               Sister
               Reverend Mother. addressed as Your reverence.[23]p.13                   

               Roles

               Truthsayer.    "she's the Emperor's Truthsayer."[23]p.15
               Proctor Superior.[23]p.33    "as a Proctor of the Bene Gesserit, I seek the Kwisatz Haderach, the male who truly can become                                                                                                            one of us"[23]p.39

               Divisions

               Missionaria Protectiva -

                               "The Missionaria Protectiva has been in there and softened it up somewhat."[23]p.36
                               "the Bene Gesserit system of sowing implant-legends through the Missionaria Protectiva" [23]p.62                                                                                                    "The wisdom of seeding the known universe with a prophecy pattern for the protection of B.G. personnel has long                                                                    been appreciated"[23]p.62 
                               "The thing must take its course." That was a specific catchphrase from the Missionaria Protectiva's stock of                                                                                    incantations, The coming of the Reverend Mother to free you."" Great Mother! They planted that one here! This                                                                            must be a hideous place!"[23]p.72 , Jessica in reference to Arrakis .

                               "It reads like the Azhar Book, she thought, recalling her studies of the Great Secrets. Has a Manipulator of Religions been on                                                Arrakis?"[23]p.225  are these manipulators part of the Missionaria Protectiva?  a subdivision  maybe?

                Gesserit Training

                "Tongues are the Bene Gesserit's first learning," "I know the Bhotani Jib and the Chakobsa, all the hunting languages."[23]p.15

                "how much my Bene Gesserit business training figured in his choice of me." [23]p.80

                    Mind and Body Lessons;    "one of the mind-body lessons his mother had taught him. Three quick breaths triggered the                                                                responses[23]p.15

                Minutiae of observation; "trained him in the Bene Gesserit Way, in the minutiae of observation"[23]p.15
                "code phrase every Bene Gesserit not bound by a School Injunction was required to give another Bene Gesserit when                                                               conditions demanded it: "On that path lies danger."[23]p.91
                "within herself for the coupling of fact and fact and fact, the Bene Gesserit way of assessing data, and it came to her"[23]p.226

                "a lecture (...) The subject had been espionage and counter-espionage."[23]p.161

                "The ungainly thumping of her heartbeats evened, shaping out time. She counted back. I was unconscious about an                                                                 hour." [23]p.192, the ability to unconsciously remember heartbeats and sync them to memories, its an interesting ability, is                                                   this something she set up because she felt herself being drugged or is this something that's constantly ongoing at a                                                                   subconscious level that she can access when needed? - this has to be a Bene Gesserit taught skill though no confirmation of it yet.

                "Bene Gesserit training included the taste of many drugs"[23]p.407

                 Meditations 
                 Meditation of Peace;"practice the meditation of peace."[23]p.17

                 "There are marriageable princesses, after all, and every one of them Bene Gesserit trained."[23]p.496

                 Abilities

                Ability to determine the sex of a child. "If only she 'd borne us a girl as she was ordered to "[23]p.16 
                The Sight " Bene Gesserit – with – the – Sight." [23]P.16  "No regrets. We shall see when you're a fugitive with a price on your                                                 head and every man's hand turned against you to seek your life and the life of your son."[23]p.35,  a snippet that shows that                                                   the reverend mother has the future vision.
                The Voice  "obeying before he could think about it. Using the Voice on me,"[23]p.18
                "She waited in the seeming relaxation that made the Bene Gesserit-trained so terrifying in combat. "[23]p.70
                "The leaf! She brushed a finger along the under surface, along the edge, along the stem. It was there! Her fingers detected                                                     the subtle coded dots"[23]p.90
                "He had used the questions and hyper-awareness to do what his mother called "registering" the person. He had Kynes now, tune of                                   voice, each detail of face and gesture.[23]p.48

                Litanies and Sayings

                Response to the litany against fear, out of the Bene Gesserit rite;
                "I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over                   me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only                   I will remain."[23]p.18
                "Bene Gesserit proverb "Any road followed precisely to its end leads precisely nowhere. Climb the mountain just a little bit                                                     to test that it's a mountain. From the top of the mountain, you cannot see the mountain."[23]p.87

                "If you rely only on your eyes, your other senses weaken." It was a Bene Gesserit axiom[23]p.264

                " 'I am Bene Gesserit: I exist only to serve,' " Jessica quoted.[23]p.36
                "  my first lesson." " 'Humans must never submit to animals.' "[23]p.37

                axiom: "The mind can go either direction under stress, toward positive or toward negative: on or off. Think of it as a spectrum whose                               extremes are unconsciousness at the negative end and hyper-consciousness at the positive end. The way the mind will lean under                                     stress is strongly influenced by training."[23]p.304

                "Gesserit axiom (...) "Survival is the ability to swim in strange water."[23]p.358

                "But we shouldn't waste sorrow over the aristocracy of misfortune.""There's a Bene Gesserit saying," [23]p.391
                "It goes: 'Do not count a human dead until you've seen his body. And even then you can make a mistake.' "[23]p.391

                "proverb "When religion and politics travel in the same cart, the riders believe nothing can stand in their way. Their movement become                           headlong, faster and faster and faster. They put aside all thought of obstacles and forget that a precipice does not show itself to the                                   man in a blind rush until it's too late."[23]p.441

                "All men beneath your position covet your station," went the Bene Gesserit axiom."[23]p.490

                 "Bene Gesserit saying: "Prophets have a way of dying by violence." [23]p.490
                     "A Bene Gesserit axiom slipped into his mind: 'To use raw power is to make yourself infinitely vulnerable to greater powers.'"[28]p.34

                  Interesting Information
                  When Jessica reads the leaf the message from Lady Fenring gives accurate if not detailed intelligence on some of the Harkonnen                                       plot against house Atreides. The Harkonnen's don't like Bene Gesserit so its reasonable to assume that the order dose have                                                     Spies / Informants close to the Barron / Petri prior to the Atreides arriving on Arrakis. However its also possible they are                                                       known to the Harkonnen, the message Lady Fenring passed to Jessica could have been leaked on purpose we already know                                                   that the Harkonnen's planned to sow the seed of mistrust in the Atreides house, esp Hawat.
                  "by the Bene Gesserit who were banding the sorceresses."[23]p.575 this was happening between the end of the Butlerian jehad and the                           CET