Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon my Darlings. Today I have decided to share with everyone another post about one of my all-time favorite films. Yes, it is another The Nightmare Before Christmas post, this time focused on Sally and one interpretation of her as a Yuletide Witch. I believe that this fits in rather well with the last couple of Christmas Witch posts which I have been doing for this Yuletide season!
Sally is one of the most interesting characters in the whole tale, likely second only to Jack himself. There are so many questions about her origins and her knowledge and abilities, some of which are clarified in her sequel novel, Long Live the Pumpkin Queen, but there are still many things we can use conjecture to figure out about the more mysterious parts of her nature!
When the audience first sees Sally in the original film, she is presented as a Rag Doll with a good amount of ingenuity and a deep interest in Jack, the Pumpkin King. It is not long before it is revealed that Sally lives with the wicked Mad Scientist Dr. Finkelstein. He claims to have created her and therefore states that he owns her, although we do learn that he is not her creator but rather her kidnapper in the continuation novel. When Finkelstein is speaking with Sally he states that it is the second time she has poisoned him with Deadly Nightshade to sneak out within the last month, and Sally corrects him that it was the third time! That is the first time that we as an audience see that she has a lot of spunk and is unwilling to simply take the life that has been handed to her!
Later on, we also get the treat of seeing her poison the soup she has made for Finkelstein and cover the scent of the poison with Frog’s Breath. When he questions her intentions and insists that she taste test the food herself, she does so with a spoon she has carved holes into! She is utterly brilliant and determined to live her life on her own terms.
In many ways, Sally has more connections to the Spooky Season than many of the other Halloweentown residents. She is a Rag Doll supposedly brought to life by Finkelstein, mirroring the plot of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. She is also a doll playing on the fact that many people already feel uncomfortable with dolls, and I personally think making her a Rag Doll may be a reference to the original Annabel since in real life she was a Raggedy Ann Doll, not the doll she was in The Conjuring films.
As the plot progresses, Jack decides to take over Christmas, but Sally is the one uncertain about it. She is the one who has the psychic vision of the Christmas Trees lighting on fire. To me, this seems to refer to Sally having innate magick, being either a Witch or Fae Woman of some sort. Due to her vision being directly related to Christmas, she could be seen as a Winter Witch figure. Sally is deeply tapped into the Ethereal Realms, given Faery Sight if you will. Sally is also the one who goes on to save Santa or attempt to before getting caught by Oogie Boogie, and then Jack has to come to their rescue. However, Santa does state that people should listen to Sally as she is the only one with any sense in Halloweentown! Her wisdom, psychic visions, ingenuity, bravery, and knowledge of herbs make her quite a great asset the Jack. She is also a great magickal practitioner who uses her abilities to help give herself the best advantage in life, even against all the odds.
At the end of the day, Sally is a great figure to embrace if you want to truly have a Spooky Yuletide season! She encourages us to reflect, go within ourselves to confront our shadows, practice divination, and embrace our loved ones. All of those things are traditional ways of celebrating the holiday season! I hope you have enjoyed this look at Sally through a magickal lens. What is your favorite thing about Sally Skellington? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is a cute Sally artwork. I found the image at https://www.disneyclips.com/images3/nightmarech.html.
Tarot Note: I have a page offering tarot and oracle readings for those interested in these services! I am very happy to be offering these readings to my treasured readers at White Rose of Avalon! Link to page: https://whiteroseofavalon.life/tarot-and-oracle-readings/
Further Watching/Reading
- The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
- Long Live the Pumpkin King by Shea Ernshaw
- http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/n/nightmare-before-christmas-script-transcript.html (This is the movie script, which I found online.)