Rats and mice are the small creatures of the dark corners: worries, guilt, gnawing anxiety and what feeds on neglect. They can also mean survival and resourcefulness. Their number in the dream often shows how large the worry has become.
When the dream feels light
A small mouse that you watch calmly speaks of modesty and of noticing small details.
When the dream feels dark
Many rats, or rats in the house, point to gnawing worries, betrayal, dirty dealings or a problem that grows if ignored.
Ask yourself
Which small worry has been gnawing at me in the dark?
Correspondences
- Archetype
- The Shadow — What you have refused to see in yourself, dark but full of force.
- Element
- Earth — body, matter and the real
- Planet
- Saturn
- Tarot card
- Nine of Swords
- Alchemical stage
- Nigredo, the Blackening
Small gnawing worries and what feeds in the dark corners. Name them and they lose their teeth.
Words that call this sign
mice, mouse, rat, rats
Related signs
The Wolf · The Bat · The Goat · The Storm · The Forest · Night · The Shadow · The Stranger
The card of this dream
Nine of Swords. The hour of the wolf: anxiety and sleepless nights. A woman sits up in bed, her face in her hands, with nine swords hanging on the dark wall behind her. It is anxiety, nightmares and worry: fear that is greater in the night than in reality.