Witnessed by: TCM · Ayurveda
Mica (Muscovite), of the silicate mineral (phyllosilicate; mica group) family. Books and plates of a colourless to silvery or greenish mineral, splitting into thin elastic transparent leaves; native range: granites, pegmatites and mica schists, where it grows in books of splitting plates. Globally recognized as 雲母 yun mu in Chinese, abhraka, vajrabhraka, gaganam in Sanskrit, and mica, muscovite, Muscovy glass in English. The part used is the purified and incinerated mineral (abhraka bhasma) or the calcined plates. Silvery, pearly and glittering, splitting endlessly into flexible glassy sheets that spring back when bent; tasteless and gritty until it is burnt to a soft impalpable ash.
In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.
MICA
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- mica
- Scientific name
- Muscovite (KAl₂(AlSi₃O₁₀)(OH)₂)
- Family
- silicate mineral (phyllosilicate; mica group)
Form
- Part used
- the purified and incinerated mineral (abhraka bhasma) or the calcined plates
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- sweet
- Ayurveda
- sweet (madhura) · astringent (kashaya)
Temperature
- TCM
- warm
- Ayurveda
- cooling (shita)
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- warms the middle and secures the qi, calms the spirit, and dispels phlegm to settle cough and wheezing; externally it dries and closes sores
- Ayurveda
- rasayana (rejuvenative), balya (strengthening), vrishya (aphrodisiac), yogavahi (carries other medicines to their mark), and pacifying to all three doshas
Cautions
- Contraindications
- the unburnt or half-burnt mineral is never given internally — an incomplete bhasma is held to be worse than the raw stone
- Toxicity
- improperly incinerated mica is gritty and irritant to the gut; the medicine is only as safe as its marana is complete
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