Beast

Mouse


Latin name: Mus
Other names: Mure, Souris
Category: Beast

A small animal that is born from the soil

General Attributes

The mouse is born from the soil (humus), hence its name (mus). It is a small animal. A mouse's liver gets larger at the time of the full moon, which is the only time mice make sounds; at other phases of the moon they are mute. Their smell annoys elephants. If a mouse drinks water it dies, because they are very moist by nature. They conceive by licking, not through copulation, and by the taste of salt they become pregnant.

Uses Magical, Medical, Alchemical and Culinary

The ashes of mice mixed with honey and oil will cure earache. The gall of mice tempered with wine will treat worms of the ear. Mice dropping with vinegar cures alopecia (a disease that causes hair loss). Mice droppings pounded with wine and taken in drink loosens the stomach. The skin of mice applied to the heels cures wounds there.

Hildegard von Bingen says, "If one has the ague, take a mouse and give it a blow so it cannot run away. Before it dies, tie the back of the mouse between the shoulder blades of the person when the ague is tormenting him. Let the mouse die between the person’s shoulder blades, and that person will be cured, and ague will invade him no more." (Throop translation)