of gom jabbar to the young Paul Often feared for the power she exercised ova- her most successful pupils-notably the Lady Jessica-and for her influence as confidante and Truthsayei to the Padishah Emper or Shaddam IV, she was believed to be the master strategist of Bene Gessent planning and diplomacy The lengthy file on Reverend Mother Gams Helen, found m the hoard at Dar-es-Balat, reveals her many functions and activities as primarily political m nature especially in her later years Even her educational endeavors were purportedly prompted by political motives as, for example the teaching and training of Jessica and Pnn cess Irulan She was most highly regarded for her prowess as an observer Documents in her file attest to her status as "Bene Gessent with the Sight," one whose abilities to test a subject's claim to human status went unmatched In all matters relating to the Sisterhood, she enjoyed a power and prestige rare m the annals of the Bene Gessent Although among her peers she was thought proud, even fiercely so outside the venera ble Sisterhood her arrogance prompted such epithets as "witch," ' sorceress," and, in the Fremen, kalbat Bani Jeziret,' 'bitch of the Bene Gessent'' She was often accused of foretelling the future and then plotting lo make it happen It is certainly true that she was in perfect harmony with all the previous generations who had envisioned and planned the so called perfect breeding program, there by plotting for possession and control of human destiny She came from a long line of Reverend Mothers bred out of the age of despair, and like them she was empowered with two gifts She possessed the gift of prescience or illumination, and the power of solitary conception She could bring forth, spiritually, her own kind Schooled m chemistry, anatomy, astronomy medicine, and metaphysics, she like her sisters, was a master of manipulation Reverend Mother Gaius Helen was renowned, too, for self induced trancehfce states, a fixi ty of attention so toul that it could block out all signals of the external environment and of surface consciousness She was reported to be an adept at the Tarot pack, that game of both contemplation and action that was be heved to contain the sum of all problems m its infinite permutaUons The range of Reverend Mother Gaius Helen's powers enabled her to successfully engage in conspiracies to place a Bene Gessent on the throne of the Impenum, to infiltrate the ranks of Muad Dib and to attempt to wrest control from Paul and place it in the hands of the Sisterhood, all of which in curred Paul s everlasting enmity and suspicion One such conspiracy labeled as treachery by some sources, was Reverend Mother's plan for brother sister crossbreeding in the hope of secunng the pure breeding line of legend It was Reverend Mother's mission to prevent Paul from establishing an Imperial line through his beloved Cham, thereby disrupting the Sisterhood's carefully designed program al ready jeopardized by Jessica's default Oper atmg by indirection and secrecy, the chief guardian of the Bene Gessent sought to MOHIAM 389 protect the pyramid of generations she believed had reached its apex in Paul Atreides.