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Alchemy and the Divine Feminine in Cervantes’ Don Quixote de la Mancha

Carl Gustav Jung found in alchemy “a mine of symbolism that he recognized to parallel the way

a human being, with the correct use of will and imagination, and the assent of fate, can enter a process

whose goal is the creation of an internal structure he called the self” (Schwartz-Salant 2). In alchemy,

gold is the final by-product of the process of transmutation of base metals. However physical as it may

appear, alchemy is not only meant to purify and perfect the forms of elements and base metals.

Alchemy’s main intentions are mystical in nature, its primary aspect being the achievement of spiritual

development, the refinement of the soul into the “golden self.” Hence, alchemy is parallel to what Jung

calls “individuation”, the way a person would enter “a process whose goal is the creation of an internal

structure called the self” (Schwartz-Salant 2). As Don Quixote strives toward establishing his own

individuation, he encounters along his path numerous symbols resembling those that Carl Jung found in

alchemical manuscripts.

Thus, Don Quixote conveys the journey of its male hero toward individuation, or personal

alchemy. The main character, also presented as a hero quester, embarks on self-perfection journey,

parallel to the alchemical process of renewal, where the process of individuation, which is concerned

with the perfection of the self and spiritual growth, is thus similar to the process of gold-making through

alchemy. Just like individuation, many elements are needed in the path of an alchemist to reach the

perfect result he seeks; yet, a vital element that is abused in the heroes’ journeys is the female.

However, his individuation process is hindered, just as the aim of gold-making fails with an incomplete,

flawed alchemist. The interruption of the alchemical process’s completion is manifested through the

rejection of the union between the male and female forces in the alchemical stage known as the

coniunctio.
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In other words, the feminine elements in the spirituo-alchemical journeys of the male hero-

quester in Don Quixote de la Mancha have heavily been belittled or neglected. Alchemy’s main aim is to

unite the male and female forces within each individual requiring the mating of a symbolic “king” and

“queen.” In order to make gold, Jung asserts that the “answer from the mother-world shows that the

gulf between it and the father-world is not unbridgeable, seeing that the unconscious holds the seed of

the unity of both” (Scwartz-Salant 159). It is precisely “the unity of both” that instigates the problem. In

other words, alchemy seeks to unite Spirit (male), and Matter (female) through a Royal Union

(coniunctio) to create their synthesis and unleash the light, or gold. The imbalance between the male

(animus) and female (anima) counterparts of the hero’s psyche has made his process of personal

alchemy impossible. The protagonist’s failure to connect with their feminine counterparts hinders his

personal journey toward the perfection of the self. In Don Quixote, the knight-errant never unites with

Dulcinea del Toboso, for his persona takes over his anima, averting him from the reality of life.

The novel contains numerous symbols and codes that represent the different stages of alchemy,

thus displaying the type of psychic progress the hero is achieving toward his goals. As stated by one of

the most famous ancient alchemical texts, the Rosarium Philosophorum, “Wherever we have spoken

openly we have (actually) said nothing. But where we have written something in code or in pictures we

have concealed the truth” (qtd. in Roob 11). The novel does precisely that, for it literally “says nothing,”

but at the same time has concocted various truths about alchemical progress through the different

scenes, characters, and events (that refer to the process of alchemy). Nevertheless, external, chemical,

and alchemical references in the novel are actually perceived as the scientific projection of psychological

developments. In alchemy, “the individual metals were taken to represent various degrees of maturity

or illness of the same basic material on its way to perfection, to gold” (Roob 19). In Don Quixote, the

protagonist functions in the same way as these “individual metals” of alchemy, on his way to perfection

(gold).
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Even in the alchemical texts themselves, alchemy is represented as a spiritual matter, rather

than a mere chemical process: “…the hermetic doctrines also include a double-sun, and distinguish

between a bright-spirit sun, the philosophical gold, and the dark natural sun, corresponding to material

gold” (Roob 25). Correspondingly, the advent of the philosophical gold of the male protagonist is

ascertained through material symbols.

Calcination and Don Quixote:

Interestingly, the protagonist in Don Quixote embarks on his knightly quest by alluding to the

myth of Phoebus and Aurora, invoking the calcination stage’s “fire” element: “Scarce had the ruddy-

colored Phoebus begun to spread the golden tresses of his lovely hair over the vast surface of the

earthly globe, and scarce had those feathered poets of the grove, the pretty painted birds, tuned their

little pipes, to sing their early welcomes in soft melodious strains to the beautiful Aurora” (Cervantes

14). According to Don Quixote, this is how history will refer to his fabulous exploits, how it will “begin it

in this very manner, when [one] comes to give an account of this [his] early setting out” (Cervantes 14).

Moreover, after Don Quixote departs from the inn as an “official” knight, “Aurora began to usher in the

morn, when Don Quixote sallied out of the inn, so well pleased, so gay, and so overjoyed to find himself

knighted” (Cervantes 23). With the appearance of the fire element, the calcination stage is confirmed.

Another feature of the calcination stage is the desire of the hero to become a warrior, a

revolutionary, or to transform the status quo (De Giorgio, “Calcination”). Undoubtedly, this is present at

the inception of Don Quixote’s adventures, especially when he sees a farmer hitting a young boy. In this

encounter, Don Quixote cries out to the farmer: “Discourteous knight, it is an unworthy act to strike a

person who is not able to defend himself: come, bestride thy steed, and take thy lance” (Cervantes 23).

Phase two : Dissolution :

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The second stage of the alchemical process is that of “dissolution.” This phase is chemically

represented as the dissolving of the ashes from the calcination stage in water. This is meant to illustrate

one’s total immersion in the unconscious part of the mind—the rejected, non-rational, feminine part:

“This is an emotional stage where the person takes themselves back to ‘the womb’ of childhood where

some of the impurities (repressed feelings) were attached and need to be washed away”

(Hollingsworth). In Dr. Laura De Giorgio’s “Dissolution,” this stage is psychologically one of fear and

anxiety for the alchemist/hero, as it is the stage of self-reflection. Physiologically, however, this

alchemical stage is associated with organs such as the genitals, lungs, and spleen. Socially, this juncture

is reflected in agrarian or monastic societies. If one wishes to specify the element of this stage, it is that

of water, often being of a flood quality, since this stage has to do with “washing away” the negative

repressed feelings and the mixing of the calcination ashes in water. Because of its “aquatic” quality, then

the dissolution stage is given a blue color. Since it deals with the “feminine” aspects of the mind, then it

corresponds with the verse in the Emerald Tablet that says “Its mother is the moon.”

Dissolution and Don Quixote:

The dissolution phase in Don Quixote’s journey appears when the “knight errant” has entered

into a dispute with the canon of Toledo over chivalric books. From this difference of opinion, one notes

Don Quixote’s psychological state expressing a concealed desire to be pampered by women. This

psychological state may well correspond to the “dissolution,” or stage that Don Quixote is at, for he

queries whether there is anything more delightful than the following:

… to read a lively description, which, as it were, brings before your eyes…a vast lake of

boiling pitch, in which an infinite number of serpents, snakes, crocodiles, and other sorts

of fierce and terrible creatures, are swimming and traversing backwards and forwards.

(Cervantes 344)
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The commencement of Don Quixote’s “delightful” scene of a knight’s tale displays a rather

aquatic setting, with all kinds of fearsome reptiles swimming in it. This is immensely characteristic of the

dissolution because this stage involves “dissolving ashes of calcinations in water.” Besides, the

dissolution stage is also portrayed as the stage where the “kundalini” energy of the body is continued,

and usually kundalini is symbolized by the serpent (De Giorgio, “Dissolution”).

Another noteworthy part of the story Don Quixote relates to the canon concerns a voice that

emerges from the middle of the lake informing the knight,

Oh Knight! Whoever thou art, who gazest on this dreadful lake, if thou wilt purchase the

bliss concealed under these dismal waters, make known thy valour by casting thyself

into the midst of these black, burning surges; for unless thou dost so, thou art not

worthy to behold the mighty wonders enclosed in the seven castles of the seven fairies,

that are seated under those gloomy waves. (Cervantes 344)

The necessity for the knight to delve deep into the black waters is similar to the dissolution’s total

immersion in the unconscious, non-rational, feminine, rejected part of mind. The “feminine” part is

conveyed by the fairies, which are to be found under the dark waters. Moreover, the “blackness” of the

lake can furthermore relate to the dissolution stage: the dissolving of ashes in the water. This is also

quite similar to The Invisible Man’s sinking into “a wet blast of black emptiness” (Ellison 188). According

to Ruth El Saffar’s article, “Longing for the Great Mother and the restoration of the age when she

reigned is the motivator for Don Quixote’s quest”. This emphasizes the motive of Don Quixote’s quest,

which led him to this dissolution phase.

The link between Don Quixote’s dissolution and his desire for the Great Mother is highlighted in

the tale he relates to the canon; for, after the knight jumps into the water (on his way to the fairies), he

finds himself “in the midst of verdant fields, to which the Elysian bear no comparison” (Cervantes 344).
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However, in these beautiful fields, he is greeted with some more liquids, further portraying the

dissolution, where he discovers some “liquid crystal” and “he perceives an artificial fountain” (Cervantes

344). After that, the knight would:

behold a numerous train of beautiful damsels… [that] lead him into a sumptuous place,

where he is caused to strip naked as he was born, then put into a delicious bath, and

perfumed with precious essences and odoriferous oils; after which he puts on a fine

shirt, deliciously scented; and this done, another damsel throws over his shoulders a

magnificent robe. (Cervantes 345)

This story palpably reflects an inner need within Don Quixote, a hidden longing for a Great Mother.

Perhaps this is the dissolution at its peak, having him probe deeply into the “feminine” aspect of his

unconscious. As El Saffar asserts, “His underwater fantasy, unrealistic though it obviously is, clearly

responds to a need within him. His conscious appropriation of the role of knight —with his aspirations to

fame, power, and efficacy— carries on its underside a longing to return to the passivity of infancy,

where countless lovely ladies will bathe, oil, dress, feed, and sing to him” (El Saffar).

Moreover, Don Quixote’s dissolution can be regarded as what Eric Neumann calls “uroboric

incest,” for “In uroboric incest, the emphasis upon pleasure and love is in no sense active, it is more a

desire to be dissolved and absorbed; passively one lets oneself be taken, sinks into the pleroma, melts

away in the ocean of pleasure. . . The Great Mother takes the little child back into herself” (qtd. in El

Saffar). This desire to dissolve into the lap of the Great Mother may relate to a previous speech about a

“Golden age” that Don Quixote had previously delivered in the novel. According to Don Quixote, the

Golden Age was a time when ladies could freely wander without the threat or concern of being violated

by men:
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O happy age, which our parents called the age of gold! Then was the time when

innocent, beautiful young shepherdesses went tripping over the hills and vales; their

lovely hair sometimes plaited, sometimes loose and flowing, clad in no other vestment

but what was necessary to cover decently what modesty would always have

concealed…imposture, deceit, and malice had not yet crept in. (Cervantes 59)

Don Quixote asserts that knight-errantry emerged because that “happy age” no longer exists: “thus that

primitive innocence being vanished, the oppression daily prevailing, there was a necessity to oppose the

torrent of violence: for which reason the order of knighthood-errant was instituted to defend the honor

of virgins” (Cervantes 59). This reveals that the motive behind Don Quixote’s quest consists of freeing his

anima. Thus, the story of the lake is an allusion to his previous golden age speech, before his entering

dissolution. Don Quixote is thus motivated to enter dissolution by a desire to be engrossed in

motherhood, emphasizing the role of the feminine principle in the alchemical transformation of Don

Quixote’s heroism.

Phase Three: Separation:

The third phase of alchemy is called the “separation” stage, which is chemically described as the

“isolation of components of dissolution by filtration, discarding any unworthy material” (De Giorgio,

“Separation”). The psychological manifestation of this stage, however, is characterized by the

“rediscovery of essence, reclaiming of dream and what’s rejected by the masculine, rational part of

mind. Deciding what to discard, integrate with our refined personality, discarding things one is ashamed

of.” The role that this stage plays in the quests of the male heroes in The Invisible Man, Notre Dame de

Paris, and Don Quixote is extremely vital, as it is a predecessor to the “coniunctio” stage. Actually,

perhaps an overindulging in this stage is what is behind the failure of the next phase of alchemy, the

coniunctio.
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Separation and Don Quixote:

In Don Quixote’s case, the separation stage is also awry, and he discards the important parts of

his psyche. He follows the pattern of the traditional separation, in which he has to “decide what to

discard and what to reintegrate” into his personality, but he eliminates the necessary, most vital parts of

his mind—seeing the truth. He makes it harder to unite with his feminine side by purging the repulsive—

but true—image of Dulcinea, making her more arduous to attain. His clash with the truth does not teach

him a lesson, it instead causes him to become increasingly stubborn, blinder to reality, and more prone

to living in denial: “I found her quite another creature than I expected. I found her enchanted,

transformed from a princess to a country wench, from alchemy to ugliness, from courtliness to rusticity,

from a reserved lady to a jumping Joan, from sweetness itself to a stench of a pole-cat” (Cervantes 536).

Our “knight-errant” views the real Dulcinea as an enchanted being, because the reality of her physical

shape bothers him. Don Quixote had emptied his psyche of negative images all right, but he took the

emptying process a bit too far. As the priest with the Duke comments, “Where shall one find your

enchanted Dulcineas…but in your own empty skull?” (531).

It is not something new for Don Quixote to live in his own world, but his insistence on the idea

of Dulcinea’s enchantment not only transforms her into an imaginary princess, but makes the next step

of his alchemical journey an impossible one.

Phase Four: Conjunction:

The fourth and most important stage of alchemy is the “coniunctio.” This is the stage that never

happens with Don Quixote, as the male hero-quester fails this part in his own way. This alchemical

phase is psychologically reflected by the “empowerment of our true selves, union of both male and

female sides of the person into a new belief system” (De Giorgio, “Conjunction”). The true self of Don

Quixote is denied though, and is deeply submerged in his troubled psyches. Furthermore, the union
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between the male and female counterparts of the mind is unable to occur when there is a suppressed

female voice faintly crying out in their heads. Physically, the energy of the coniunctio is activated also

through contact of both male and female energies—usually sexually—but it never ensues with any of

the male questers seeking personal alchemy. According to the Emerald Tablet, “The Earth is its nurse,”

(De Giorgio, “Conjunction”) and the color given to this alchemical phase is the color of the Earth’s

fertility, green.

It is through the coniunctio that man becomes whole according to the alchemists. One thus adds

to the ideology, or rather “Sophiology” of the mystic Jakob Boehme, who suggests that “Man grieves

with longing for his lost Sophia, his lost virginal state, the wholeness and chasteness. Half a being is a

being torn asunder, having lost the integral wholeness” (Berdayev). The coniunctio is basically the

alchemical phase where man joins with Sophia in order to become one. Sophia, or as Boehme perceives

it as man’s virginal state, is an incarnation of the divine feminine. Moreover, Jung asserts that “The

climax of the Work is the moment of coniunctio, the conjunction of the male and female principle in the

marriage of heaven and earth, of fiery spirit and watery matter” (qtd. in Roob 25). This is the holy union

of male and female polarities in both the mind and in physical reality. Usually, “At first the process of

integration is a ‘fiery’ conflict, but gradually it leads over to the ‘melting’ or synthesis of the opposites”

(Schwartz-Salant 107).

The Conjunction in Don Quixote:

Don Quixote’s coniunctio is doomed to failure for he never manages to meet his Dulcinea. In

fact, it is arguable that Don Quixote had resisted the entire idea of the coniunctio—symbolically—when

he expresses his desire to fight the two lions in the wagon: “Using the imagery of alchemy as a metaphor

for the psyche’s search for union with the other, we could say of Don Quixote that the goal of the opus

—the coniunctio or marriage of the King and Queen, is aspired to but not achieved” (El Saffar).
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Don Quixote must have subconsciously been aware he would never encounter Dulcinea, whose

beauty and nobility was a travail of the knight-errant’s mind. This unconscious fact is projected on the

lion pair—an alchemical symbol of the coniunctio— that Don Quixote stumbles upon: “In the foremost

cage is a he-lion, and in the other behind, a lioness” (Cervantes 448). Don Quixote’s unconscious mind

does not wish to confront any symbols of the coniunctio because of the suppressed notion of its

impossibility; he chooses to struggle against the unbearable prospect of never being able to meet

Dulcinea. In alchemy, the he-lion and lioness pair is a representation of the royal pair, the Solar King and

Lunar Queen, and as Jung contends, “the lion has among other things an unmistakable erotic aspect”

(Fabricius 298). Don Quixote, perhaps instinctively knows that his insistence on living out his imaginary

world would not lead him to his ultimate goal of the coniunctio. He is too involved in a fake reality, and

is too deeply overwhelmed by the love of an imaginary woman that “The approach to union that Don

Quixote enacts —imitating so many of his compatriots, indeed, parodying the whole colonial

enterprise— is bound to fail” (El Saffar). The lions tell him exactly that, and they play the part of masking

his depression at the truth of the mediocre, loveless life he actually leads. According to Marie-Louise von

Franz, “The alchemical ‘green lion’ devouring the sun relates to the experience of consciousness being

overwhelmed by violent, frustrated desires (often masked by depression)” (Fabricius 105).

It is Don Quixote’s tragic flaw that he “… intuits the imprisonment of psyche in matter —it is that

intuition that drives his chivalric career and that stimulates his idea that the women he meets along the

way are being carried off against their will” (El Saffar). Even Don Quixote’s physical surroundings are

fragments of his imagination, for everything and everyone he meets are projections of mental states and

desires. His main flaw is that while “living his dream,” Don Quixote averts as much as possible from a

threatening reality, especially when meeting the lions: “…lion-whelps against me! Against me those

puny beasts!” (448)

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The entire issue of Don Quixote always installing himself in dangerous and hilariously incredible

situations even frustrates Sancho, who “…came up to his master with tears in his eyes, and begged him

not to go about this fearful undertaking to which the adventure of the wind-mills, and the fulling-mills,

and all the brunts he had ever borne in his life, were but children’s play” (Cervantes 450). The

coniunctio, symbolized by the lions, is something he loathes because of its impossibility. This is why the

lions seem threatening to him, because they torment his desires that he knows cannot be fulfilled.

Don Quixote’s unconscious mind reveals itself when he gains sanity at the end, and he confesses

his awareness of the impossibility of meeting Dulcinea. His attempts for personal alchemy do not

succeed simply because he has immersed himself in a world that does not exist instead of facing

challenges that truly exist. As critic Ruth El Saffar comments, “He imagines —as he tells Sancho in I, 19—

that he will in fact be able to pull off marriage to a princess and ascent to the throne by the strength of

his sword. When the sword and the will that wields it tire, however, as they do in Part II, the fact of

failure is revealed. The effort to force the soul’s redemption ends not in fulfillment but in death, as Don

Quixote acknowledges in Chapter 72 when he realizes that Dulcinea will not appear”.

Conclusion:

Don Quixote pursues his fantasies in vain because his desire for glory blinds him to the truth. Although

Don Quixote is not as much of a megalomaniac as Frollo, his unmatchable yearn for invincible

knighthood strips him of all sense of reason, thus ruining his chances of encountering a “real” Dulcinea;

he consequently prevents himself from having actual life adventures that would enrich his genuine self.

Don Quixote, however, reaches a point where the path to wisdom is truly lost. He foolishly essays to

save maidens he encounters that are in apparent distress; however, he unwittingly maintains his Sophia

distant and inaccessible. Sophia, to be regarded as the divine feminine aspect of man by Boehme, also
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literally means “divine wisdom.” This brings to mind Boehme’s “Of True Repentance,” from his book The

Way to Christ, in which he portrays Sophia conversing with man’s soul, and saying to it:

Why hast thou forgotten Me so long, that I have been constrained in great Grief to

stand without the Door and knock? Have I not always called thee and entreated thee?

But thou hast turned away thy Countenance from Me, and thine Ears have declined My

Entreaties. Thou couldst not see My Light, for thou didst walk in the Valley of Darkness. I

was very near thee, and entreated thee continually, but thy Sinfulness held thee Captive

in Death, so that thou knewest Me not. (42)

Ironically, Don Quixote dies shortly after realizing his loss of the Sophia, and subsequent to discerning

the true course of what Boehme entitled “Of True Repentance.” Don Quixote final words uttered on his

deathbed reflect sorrow at having wasted a lifetime in blindness to the truth:

My judgment is returned clear and undisturbed and that cloud of ignorance is now

removed, which the continual reading of those damnable books of knight-errantry have

cast over my understanding. Now, I perceive their nonsense and impertinence, and am

only sorry the discovery happens so late, when I want time to make amends by those

studies that should enlighten my soul, and prepare me for futurity. (Cervantes 756)