A Bene Gesserit term describing behavior severely "out
of character" for an individual, and not ethically or morally a part of the
individual's norm. The Sisterhood viewed severely disruptive psychotic behavior
as a mystic condition involving the "possession" of the host psyche
of a "pre-born" by the overwhelming personality of a genetic, ancestral
pseudo-life. The term "pre-born" is defined in the Bene Gesserit Azhar
Book as "that soul resting quietly within its womb-bed whose entire life
is destroyed by a pre-birth knowledge of its ancestors' personae. We cause such
a chaotic state if we allow a breeder to take of the Water of Life when she is
with child." The resultant possibility of Abomination rests on the Bene Gesserit
premise that certain individuals carry the genetic capability to bring the personalities
of their ancestors to a conscious level in a living mind. The Azhar Book judges
the condition thusly: "It is with reason and terrible experience that we
call the pre-born Abomination. For who knows what lost and damned persona out
of our evil past may possess the living flesh?"
The Azhar Book outlines the conditions necessary to a state of possession (Mahrana
IV: H-K). First a pregnant Bene Gesserit breeder must ingest the Water of Life,
apparently an hallucinogenic chemical which varied during the history of the order.
This chemical, carried in her blood to the womb, activates the fetal psychic awareness
and produces a babble of sound and sensory imagery which the un-born is unable
to comprehend or assimilate. At birth, this "awakened" baby supposedly
sees with adult comprehension because of the active, intelligent, adult memories
it now carries at a conscious level. The child, therefore, appears to the uninitiated
as extremely precocious but to the knowledgeable as a possible Abomination. Only
bright Bene Gesserit children were suspect; precocious lay children were safe
from scrutiny.
In order for the pseudo-life to gain access to the child's consciousness, the
child must initiate active communication by "calling" individuals. The
more frequently the child "calls" a persona, the stronger the persona
becomes, eventually being able to intrude upon the host consciousness at will.
At some relatively early stage, the personae can be discerned to be either benign
or malignant. The malignant individuals vie for domination of the host, but the
benign can be persuaded to form a union called a "mohalata." Bene Gesserit
training and encouragement can support the formation of a mohalata which then
can serve as a protective barrier between the individual malignant persona and
the host. If no mohalata is formed, the host is in danger of possession. The dominant
malignant persona must first take control of the mind, then the nervous system,
and finally the musculature. At this stage the body and mind no longer function
at the host's will but are forever in the control of the pseudo-life. To those
not of the Bene Gesserit, the actions of such a "possessed" person can
be construed as combinations of classic psychotic behavior, primarily involving
schizophrenia, paranoia, and manic depression. The Bene Gesserit and their myth-dominated
subcultures, however, do not call upon psychologists or psychiatrists to aid the
afflicted person. Instead, ritualistic forms of trial determine Possession or
Abomination; a guilty verdict brings death.
The Bene Gesserit, believing the state of Abomination and Possession to be the
most evil within which a person can live, give five "commandments" by
which the Sisterhood hopes to avert any occurrence of this condition. They are
found in The Azhar Book as "Protections Against Abomination":
- No woman who has become one with the Water of Life may thereafter bear a child.
- No woman may ever feel safe from the threat of possession, being more susceptible
than a man.
- No woman with child can participate in any form of the Water of Life ceremony
on pain of death.
- No child born under the accursed conditions shall be suffered to live.
- No adult found to be possessed, even if born outside of the condition of abomination,
shall be suffered to live.
Almost all information on Abomination comes from Bene Gesserit documents. Yet,
even though the Sisterhood created the appellation, there are questions which
remained unanswered. For example, must one be an Abomination before one can be
possessed? If so, why are all the Bene Gesserits trained in precise nerve and
muscle control? The B.G. Basic Training Manual states in its introduction that
"only through profound prana-bindu control can we be protected against possession."
Perhaps possession and abomination were terms used indiscriminately to classify
violent abnormal behavior or behavior threatening to the group as a whole, allowing
the Bene Gesserit to avoid more expensive and time-consuming methods of diagnosis
and treatment.
In the Bene Gesserit open files in the Wallach IX library, Abomination Inquiry
folios show surveillance of seven hundred suspected people between the Great Revolt
and the God Emperor, five hundred and twenty of whom were executed. The file on
Alia Atreides indicates that the most serious cases arose after the introduction
of the Fremen Water of Life into the Sisterhood's rituals. This information corresponds
with the recent hypothesis that the Atreides line carried a defective chromosome
introduced by the Mohiam line, a defect susceptible to the chemical composition
Of melange and the fluid of the dying "Little Maker" of the Fremen culture.
Leto II acknowledges a dominant pseudo-life (a "Harum") in his recently
discovered Journals, but so far there is no evidence to show that Ghanima was
afflicted. (For an extensive discussion of the Bene Gesserit view of the Alia
Case, see ATREIDES, ALIA, AS ABOMINANON.)
Further references: Azhar BOOK; Anon., The Azhar Book, ed. K.R. Barauz, AS
49 (Grumman: United Worlds); Pyer Briizvair, ed., Summa of Ancient Belief and
Practice.(Bolchef: Collegium Tarno); Sin Quadrin, Static Barriers of the Cerebral
Cortex (Richese: U. of Bailey Press); Psechlitac Manni, "The Correlation
of Mystic States and Psychotic States in Ancient Mythos: Abomination, Possession,
or Psychosis?" Antares Journal of Medicine, 99: 135-168.
ABOMINATION