20 Things You Didn’t Know About Dune
13. The Spice Melange Was Inspired By Magic Mushrooms
Dune is nothing if not a product of its time. Many musicians, actors and authors of the 60s and 70s credit hallucinogenic assistance in their creative process and Frank Herbert was one such creative. Always very open about experimenting with psychedelics - and magic mushrooms in particular - it’s very easy to see how mind-altering substances influenced the hallucinogenic Spice Melange of Arrakis.
Among many features of Spice consumption, such as extended life, sharper senses and blue-within-blue eyes, controlled over-consumption can give its users visions and trance-like views into space and time. Groovy.
The through-line of mushrooms to the Spice of Arrakis is such an obvious one that, once pointed out, it’s surprising Herbert didn’t have his house raided. Nonetheless, we do have psychedelics to thank for Dune's peerless trippy stylings.