Xiōng Dì

兄弟 is one step from 命宮 in the backward count, the second name in the list of twelve, and it stands directly opposite the palace of 奴僕. Charts whose ten-year periods run backward reach it early: second in the default sequence, first in the book's.

The name means elder and younger brothers, and the book's own heading gives no wider definition. Reading it for sisters, or for peers and close contemporaries, belongs to modern use. One thread in the old text does link it to a particular star: 天機 is named the lord of this palace, in the list that assigns stars to duties.

The section in 卷二 is mostly counting. Star by star, it gives a figure for how many brothers, with adjustments for each companion, and it often adds a remark on harmony, or on whether they are born of the same mother. Where 擎羊, 陀羅, 火星 or 鈴星 enter, the numbers go down and the remarks turn cool. These are statements in an old manual about the size and temper of a household, and the calculator does not reproduce them.