Mice

Meaning

Loss by attrition. The Mice describe something being worn away — stress eating at a person, money leaking, a possession disappearing, health gradually depleted. The card's defining quality is gradualness. Nothing is taken at once; it goes small piece by small piece.

It also carries anxiety and the physical toll of it, and by extension things that are damaged, dirty, or in disrepair.

The tone is uneasy and depleting. The Mice are more tiring than dramatic, and their danger is that they are easy to ignore until a great deal has gone.

Beside other cards

Usually the modifier, diminishing its neighbour. Mice + Ring is a commitment being eroded. Mice + Bear is money draining. Beside good cards it does not cancel them — it reduces them, which is a different and often more accurate reading.