SHADOWLAND: Prostitution - the story of Kay This Jungian Life Podcast

This is Shadowland, a new podcast experience from This Jungian Life that explores the lives of people who work and take refuge in the hidden places of our culture. Lisa, Deb, and Joseph collaborate with songwriter Wells Hanley, creator of I Wrote This Song For You podcast, to bring insight, compassion, and understanding to the darker side of human experience.
Nietzsche wrote, “I am a forest, and a night of dark trees: but he who is not afraid of my darkness, will find banks full of roses under my cypresses.”
In that spirit, we meet Kay, a 21-year-old single mother who works throughout the American southwest as a self-described prostitute. We explore how she found her way to that life, what she aspires to, and how she holds the complicated tensions between herself, her clients, and the current culture. 
Here’s Kay’s dream that we analyze:
“I am in a pet store with my best friend and my daughter, who is in a stroller. The woman proprietor went in the back. I saw an alligator in a cage eating a piglet and looked at my daughter’s stroller -- she wasn’t in there. Then I am somewhere running through halls trying to find her. I see a lot of kids about her age running around [but she isn’t among them]. I think she is in the ventilation system because she likes to crawl around. I tell someone to hide the weed that’s in my car so we can call the police.”
We shared this interview with Wells Hanley, who was moved to create a song for Kay. We hope you’ll be as touched by her story as we were. 
You can support Wells Hanley’s creative work by becoming his patron here: https://www.patreon.com/iwrotethissongforyou 
His website is here www.iwrotethissongforyou.com/
SONG: PART OF THE PLAY
music and lyrics by Wells Hanley © 2020.
 
I will listen 
receive you 
affirm you in every way 
And I will hold you 
but as I’ve told you 
it’s just part of the play 
 
I will undress you 
and then impress you 
we’ll make a game of predator and prey 
I’ll be unrestrained 
but as I’ve explained 
it’s just part of the play 
 
She is hiding in the walls 
she is watching through a screen 
She is frightened to come out 
so she lingers there unseen 
calling, “Mama, help me!” 
 
I’ll be your Echo 
a kind of mirror 
your missing Helen I am willing to portray 
And you may long to claim me 
but you’ll never tame me 
I’m too refined for that cliché 
You see, my heart is never part of the play 
 
See her high above the crowd 
see her fall into the cage 
See her flee into the walls 
as she steps onto the stage 
crying, “Mama, help me!” 
 
You call me princess 
tell me I’m beautiful 
I’m not immune to the things you say 
But when the curtain falls 
I walk these empty halls 
and even though I can never go, I can show you the way 
and I will swear that everything’s ok 
 
Hush little baby, don’t say a word 
about what you’ve seen or about what you’ve heard 
There’s a fat, hungry beast in need of a meal 
so don’t ever share 
no, don’t tell a soul what you feel
 
Music and Lyrics by Wells Hanley © 2020.
Singer:  Ali Thibodeau at https://linktr.ee/deaueyes
RESOURCES:
Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjunhttps://thisjungianlife.com/join-dream-school/gianlife.com/enroll/
 REFERENCES:
The Book of Symbols, published by Taschen
Kalsched, Donald. The Inner World of Trauma