The Bene Gesserit are a key social, religious and political force in Frank Herbert's science fiction Dune universe. The group is described as an exclusive sisterhood whose members train their bodies and minds through years of physical and mental conditioning to obtain powers and abilities that can easily seem magical to outsiders. Due to their secretive nature and misunderstood abilities, outsiders often call them witches.
Acolytes who have acquired the breadth of Bene Gesserit abilities are called Reverend Mothers within the organization's ranks. Trained at the Mother School on Wallach IX, and later headquartered at a hidden world known as Chapterhouse, the Bene Gesserit are loyal only to themselves. However, to obtain their goals and avoid outside interference, they often screen themselves with an illusion of being loyal to other groups or individuals.
In 1965's Dune, the Princess Irulan writes (via epigraph):
The litany against fear is an incantation used by the Bene Gesserit throughout the series to focus their minds and calm themselves in times of peril. The litany is as follows:
The litany against fear is an incantation used by the Bene Gesserit throughout the series to focus their minds and calm themselves in times of peril. The litany is as follows:
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.