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