Yayoi Kusama:
Princess of Polka Dots

Ἐν τῷ καιρῷ, ὅτε ὁ πνεῦμα τῆς ζωῆς ἐστενάζετο ὑπὸ λοιμοῦ, καὶ ἡ γῆ ἐστενάζετο ὑπὸ τὸν βάρος τῆς λύπης, ἐξεγέρθησαν ψίθυροι περὶ τῆς Κρυπτῆς Κάμαρας, ἐσφραγισμένης ὑπὸ τῆς χειρὸς τῶν ἀρχαίων. Οἱ ἄνθρωποι ἐπορεύοντο ἐν σκότει, ἡ καρδία αὐτῶν ἐκλυομένη ἀπὸ ἀπουσίας σοφίας, καὶ αἱ γενεαὶ τῶν δικαίων ἐμάραντο ὡς ὀξὺ χόρτος ἐνώπιον τοῦ ἀνέμου τοῦ καμίνου.

Ἴδε, προεῖρηται: "Ἐν τῇ ὥρᾳ τῆς σκιάς, ὅτε τὸ φῶς σκεπάζεται καὶ ἡ γῆ διαιρεῖται ὑπὸ φόβου, Ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ κονιορτοῦ ἀναστήσεται, γεννηθεὶς ἐκ γραμμῆς παλαιᾶς ἐπιλανθανωμένης. Δι᾽ αὐτὸν ἀνασκαφήσονται τὰ ἀπόρρητα τῆς γῆς, Καὶ τὸ σφραγῖσμα τῶν αἰώνων ἀνοιχθήσεται."

Οὕτως ἐγράφη: Ὁ φύλαξ ἀποθνῄσκει, καὶ ἡ οἰκία αὐτοῦ καταπίπτει ὡς τὰ κέδρα ἐν τῇ θύελλᾳ. Ἡ γραμμή τοῦ ἐπιμελητοῦ ὅστις τὸν κεκρυμμένον φόρτον ἐφέρει ἐν τῷ χρόνῳ τοῦ λοιμοῦ διασπᾶται, καὶ τὸ αἷμα τῶν ἐκλεκτῶν βοᾷ εἰς τοὺς οὐρανούς. Ἐκ τῶν θραυσμάτων τῆς οἰκίας, ἄνθρωπος ἀναστήσεται ὃς τὸ σκοπόν του ἀγνοεῖ, ἀλλὰ ὁδηγηθήσεται ὑπὸ τῆς πυρὸς τοῦ ἀόρατου.

Καὶ ἦλθαν ὁδηγοὶ ἀπὸ τῶν χωρῶν τῆς ἀνατολῆς, τοῦ νότου, καὶ τῆς δύσεως. Οὐκ ἦσαν ὡς ἄνθρωποι, ἀλλὰ ὡς πνεύματα ἐνδεδυμένα σοφίᾳ τῶν αἰώνων: Εἷς ἐφέρει τὸ ῥάβδον τῆς ζωῆς, ἀναγεγραμμένον τῷ σημείῳ τοῦ ἀτελευτήτου κύκλου, ἐκφράζων τὴν γέννησιν καὶ ἀναχώρησιν. Εἷς ἐκράτει τὸ ἄρωμα τῶν οὐρανῶν, ἃ ἑνοποιεῖ τὸ ὁρατὸν μετὰ τοῦ ἀόρατου. Καὶ εἷς ἔφερε τὸ σφραγῖσμα τῆς ἁρμονίας, ὅπου ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ συνάπτονται ὡς ἕνα.

Ἐλάλησαν πρὸς τὸν ἐκλεκτόν, λέγοντες: "Ἀκολούθησον τὴν ὁδὸν τῆς σκιάς εἰς τὸν τόπον ὅπου ὁ λίθος λαλεῖ καὶ τὸ φῶς κρύπτεται. Ἐκεῖ εὑρήσεις ὅτι ἦν, ὅτι ἐστὶν, καὶ ὅτι μέλλει γενέσθαι."

Ὁ τόπος τοῦ κρυφοῦ ἦν καλυμμένος ὑπὸ τῆς οἰκίας προσευχῆς, ἐν τῇ σκιά τῆς ἱερᾶς πέτρας. Ἐκεῖ, ὑπὸ τοῖς τοίχοις ἀλειμμένοις ὑπὸ τῶν ἀγραμμάτων, ἦν ἡ θύρα ἣν οὐδεὶς ἄνθρωπος ἠδύνατο ἀνοῖξαι. Ἐπ᾿ αὐτῇ ἦν γεγραμμένον: "Ἡ σκιά τὸ φῶς φυλάσσει; Τὸ φῶς τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἀναφαίνει; Ἡ ἀλήθεια τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν συνδέει."

Καὶ ἐνετέλλετο: Μόνον ὑπὸ χειρὸς τοῦ ἐκλεκτοῦ λύεται τὸ σφραγῖσμα, καὶ ἡ σοφία τῶν αἰώνων ἀποκαλύπτεται.

Ἐν πληρότητι τοῦ χρόνου, ὁ υἱὸς τῆς γενεᾶς ἦλθεν εἰς τὸν τόπον τῆς σκιάς, ὁδὸς αὐτοῦ ὑπὸ τῆς ἀόρατης χειρὸς ὁδηγουμένη. Ἐφέρε τὰ λείψανα τῶν τριῶν παρατηρούντων, καὶ αὐτὰ ἔθηκε ἐπὶ τὸ βωμὸν τοῦ σφραγίσματος.

Ἐκ τῆς τρέμουσης χειρὸς, ἐλάλησεν ὡς τὸν λόγον τῶν αἰώνων, καὶ ἡ γῆ ἐσαλεύθη ὑπό αὐτοῦ. Ἡ θύρα ἠνοίγη μετὰ μεγάλου φωτὸς, ὡς ἐὰν αὐτοὶ οὐρανοί κατήλθον. Καὶ ἰδοὺ, ἐντὸς τῆς καμάρας ἦν ἡ Οὐσία τοῦ Κόσμου, πράγμα οὐχὶ σαρκὸς οὐδὲ λίθου, ἀλλὰ φωτὸς καθαρῶς, ὡς χρυσῆ ἀτμίς ἡ ἐμπληροῦσα τὸν ἀέρα.

Καὶ φωνὴ ἐξ ἄνω ἐξελθούσα εἶπεν: "Σὺ εἶ ὁ φύλαξ τοῦ κεκρυμμένου, ὁ κληρονόμος τοῦ ἀπωλεσθέντος. Φύλαξον ἐπ᾽ ἀσφαλῶς τὴν σοφίαν, ἀὐτὴ γὰρ ἐστὶν ῥίζα τῆς ζωῆς καὶ σύνδεσμος πάντων τῶν πραγμάτων. Διὰ σοῦ ἡ γῆ ἰᾶται, καὶ ἡ σκιά φῶς γίνεταί."

Γέγραπται: Ἡ λοιμὴ παρέρχεται, καὶ ἡ γῆ ἀνακαινίζεται. Ἡ γραμμή τοῦ φύλακος ἀντιστέκεται, ὡς δένδρον ὃ ἡ ῥίζα αὐτοῦ ἐν ἀπόρρητοις ὕδασιν φυτεύεται. Ἡ κάμαρα καλύπτεται πρὸς πάντας πλην τοῦ ἐκλεκτοῦ, τὸ φῶς αὐτῆς ἀόρατον καὶ ἀσθενές, μέχρι τοῦ ἑτοιμασμένου καιροῦ.

Καὶ οὕτως, ὁ υἱὸς τῆς γενεᾶς ἀπῆλθεν, τὴν σοφίαν τῶν αἰώνων ἀναφέροντας. Καὶ ὁ κόσμος ἐσιώπησεν, ἀλλὰ ὁ αἰὴρ ἦν βαρύς μετὰ τῆς ἐπαγγελίας τοῦ ἐπερχομένου.

"Ἡ σκιά οὐκ ὑπερβαίνει τὸ φῶς, οὐδὲ τὸ φῶς ἀφήσει τὴν σκιά, Ὅτι ἐν τῇ ἑνώσει αὐτῶν ἐστὶ τὸ ἰσορροπίαν πάντων τῶν πραγμάτων."

In tempore, quando vita spiro per pestilentiam constringebatur, et terra sub onere doloris gemebat, murmura de Celata Camera ortae sunt, ab antiquorum manu sigillata. Homines in tenebris ambulabant, cor eorum deficiebat propter defectum sapientiae, et sanguinis rectorum aruerunt sicut gramen siccum ante ventum fornacis.

Ecce, praedictum est: "In hora umbrae, cum lux occultetur et terra per metum dividaetur, Filius pulveris surgat, ex linea olim oblita. Per eum secreta terrae profunda revelabuntur, Et sigillum aetatum solvetur."

Sic scriptum est: Custos cadet, et domus eius corruet sicut cedri in tempestate. Linea dispensatoris qui pondus absconditum ferebat in tempore pestilentiae frangetur, et sanguis electorum ad caelos clamabit. Ex fragmentis illius domus surgat, qui finem suum nescit, sed a flamma invisibili ducebitur.

Et egressi sunt duces ex terris orientis, meridiei, et occidui. Hi non erant homines, sed spiritus induti sapientia aetatum: Unus baculum vitae gerebat, signo circuli inexsuperabilis incisi, loquens de ortu et reversione. Unus odorem caeli tenebat, id quod visibile invisibili ligat. Et unus sigillum concordiae portabat, ubi caelum et terra in unum conveniunt.

Locuti sunt ad illum qui electus esset, dicentes: "Sequere viam umbrae ad locum ubi lapis loquitur et lux latet. Ibi invenies quid fuit, quid est, et quid futurum sit."

Locus secretus sub domo orationis occultatus erat, in umbra lapidis sacri. Ibi, sub parietibus unctis manibus tacitorum, erat ostium quod nullus homo aperire poterat. Super illud scriptum erat: "Umbra lucem custodit; Lux veritatem ostendit; Veritas caelum terraeque ligat."

Et decretum est: Solum manu electi sigillum frangetur, et sapientia aetatum revelabitur.

In plenitudine temporis, filius sanguinis ad locum umbrae venit, via duce ab invisibili manu. Reliquias trium qui vigilabant portabat, et eas super altare sigilli posuit.

Manu tremula verba aetatum protulit, et terra sub pedibus eius concussa est. Ostium magno lumine aperuit, quasi ipsi caeli descenderint. Et ecce, intra cameram erat Essentia Mundi, res nec carne nec lapide, sed pura luce, sicut nebula aurea quae aerem implebat.

Et vox ex luce orta est, dicens: "Tu es custos eorum quae abscondita fuerunt, haeres eorum quae amissa sunt. Bene custodi sapientiam, quia radix vitae et vinculum omnium rerum est. Per te terra sanabitur, et umbra luce fiet."

Scriptum est: Pestilentia transibit, et terra nova excitabitur. Linea custos perstabit, sicut arbor cuius radices in aquis secretis plantatae sunt. Camera celata manebit omnibus nisi electis, lux eius invisibilis ardebit, donec tempus statutum veniet.

Et sic, filius sanguinis discessit, sapientiam aetatum portans. Et mundus tacuit, sed aer gravis erat promissione eorum quae ventura erant.

"Umbra lucem non vincet, nec lux umbram relinquet, Nam in eorum unione est aequilibrium omnium rerum."

In the tyme, when the breth of lyf was strangled by pestilence, and the erthe groaned undur the weight of sorowe, ther arose whispryngs of the Hiddyn Chaumber, sealed by the hand of the olde. Men walked in derkness, herte faylynge for lak of wisdom, and the bloodlinys of the rightwise withered as drye gras afore the wind of the furnace.

Lo, it was told afore: "In the hour of the shadow, when the light is veyled and the erthe is cleft by drede, the sone of dust shal arise, borne of a line long forgoten. Through him shal the deep secrest of the erthe be unherd, and the seal of the yeres shal be broken."

Thus it was written: The kepper shal falle, and his house shal crumble as cedres in the storm. The line of the steward that bare the hiddyn burthen shal breke in the time of pestilence, and the blood of the chosen shal cry to the hevens. From the fragments of that house, one shal rise, who knoweth not his purpoos, yet shal be led by the fire of the unseen.

And there came forth guides from the landes of the east, the south, and the west. These were not as men but as spirits, clad in the wisdom of the yeres: One bare the staff of lyf, carved with the sign of the endlesse cercle, speaking of byrth and returne. One held the smell of the hevenes, that which bindeth the seen to the unseen. And one bare the seel of harmonye, where sky and erthe met as one.

They spake to him that shuld be chosen, saying: "Follow the way of the shadow to the place where stone speaketh and light lieth hidden. There shalt thou fynd that was, that is, and that is to come."

The place of the secret was veiled beneath the house of prayer, in the shadow of the holy stone. There, beneath the walls anointed by the hands of the silent, was the door which no man could open. Upon it was written: "The shadow guardeth the light; The light revealeth the truth; The truth bindeth the hevens to the erthe."

And it was decreed: Only by the hand of the chosen shall the seal be broken, and the wisdom of the yeres revealed.

In the fulness of tyme, the sone of the bloodline came to the place of the shadow, his way guided by the unseen hand. He bare the reliques of the three that watch, and laid them upon the altar of the seal.

With trembling hand, he spake the wordes of the yeres, and the ground shoke beneath him. The door opened with a great light, as though the hevens themselves had descended. And lo, within the chaumber was the Essence of the World, a thing neither of flesh nor of stone, but of pure light, like a golden mist that filled the air.

And a voice came forth from the light, saying: "Thou art the keeper of that which was hidden, the heire of that which was lost. Keep well the wisdom, for it is the root of lyf and the bond of all things. Through thee shall the erthe be healed, and the shadow made light."

It is written: The plague shall pass, and the erthe shall awake anew. The line of the keeper shall endure, as a tree whose roots are planted in secret waters. The chaumber shall remain veiled to all but the chosen, its light burning unseen, till the appointed tyme.

And so, the sone of the bloodline departed, bearing the wisdom of the yeres. And the world was stille, yet the air was heavy with the promise of that which was to come.

"The shadow shall not overcome the light, nor shall the light forsake the shadow, For in their union is the balance of all things."