Astrology
Lot of Siblings
Direct answer
Lot of Siblings: The Lot of Siblings, the old lot of brothers, is a calculated point found from Saturn to Jupiter and laid off from the Ascendant, the same by day and by night, and read for life among brothers and sisters.
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At a glance
- Also called
- lot of brothers, part of brothers, part of siblings, lot of brothers and sisters
- In astrology
- The third house is the traditional place of siblings, and the lot is read beside it: by its sign, the ruler of that sign and the planets that regard it.
- Found in
- Astrology
- Related
- Lot of the Father, Lot of the Mother, Hermetic Lots, Third House
The Lot of Siblings, the old lot of brothers, is a calculated point found from Saturn to Jupiter and laid off from the Ascendant, the same by day and by night, and read for life among brothers and sisters.
A structural orientation; exact placements depend on the chart or technique being discussed.
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What is the Lot of Siblings?
The Lot of Siblings, called the lot of brothers in the old texts, is one of the family lots of Greek astrology. Measure the arc from Saturn to Jupiter and lay it off from the Ascendant. Valens and Paulus use the same direction by day and by night.
Saturn, the planet of the elder, and Jupiter, the planet of the household and its growth, frame the line of siblings. The old authors also read a parent's or a sibling's own fortune, illness and death from these lots. That is never done here: a chart is read for its own person, and these lots are read for that person's side of the bond, what was received and how it is carried.
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The formula
Each lot is found the same way: measure the arc from the first point to the second, always forward through the signs, and lay that arc off from the Ascendant. In longitude, "from A to B" is the Ascendant plus B minus A, reduced to the circle. By night the two points swap places. This lot is one of the few that do not reverse by night.
The worked example, the same invented day chart on every lot page (longitudes counted from 0 Aries in brackets): Ascendant 10 Libra (190), Sun 20 Aries (20), Moon 5 Gemini (65), Mercury 2 Aries (2), Venus 14 Taurus (44), Mars 8 Leo (128), Jupiter 25 Sagittarius (265) and Saturn 12 Capricorn (282). The Sun is above the horizon, so it is a day chart.
The sum, by day and by night alike: Ascendant 190 + Jupiter 265 - Saturn 282 = 173, which is 23 degrees of Virgo. Read as a night chart, nothing changes.
Reading it
The Great Almanac reads the lot for life among siblings: rivalry and loyalty, what was shared and what was divided. Where there are no siblings it is read for those who stand in that place. It never counts siblings and never speaks of a sibling's health or fortune.
The lot for counting siblings
Dorotheus gives a second lot for siblings, used to count them (Carmen I.21). Its arc starts at Mercury, the planet Dorotheus gives to younger brothers, and ends at Jupiter; our copy adds that arc to the Ascendant in a day birth and subtracts it in a night birth, which comes to the same thing as reversing it. The planets that regard the sign where it falls are then counted, and Dorotheus reads their number as the number of siblings. Our copy preserves the counting rule only in outline, so the details of which regards count are not given here.
- Day chart, from Mercury to Jupiter: Ascendant 190 + Jupiter 265 - Mercury 2 = 453, less 360 is 93, which is 3 degrees of Cancer.
- Night chart, from Jupiter to Mercury: Ascendant 190 + Mercury 2 - Jupiter 265 = -73, plus 360 is 287, which is 17 degrees of Capricorn.
He reads the siblings by their planets in the same chapter. Saturn and the Sun signify older brothers, Jupiter and Mars middle ones, and Mercury younger brothers, while the Moon signifies older sisters and Venus younger ones. He also counts by signs. The Moon or the Ascendant in Leo or Sagittarius means few siblings, and Scorpio, Cancer or Pisces rising means many. In his worked example, with Leo rising and Taurus at the Midheaven, he arrives at five brothers, counting two-bodied signs double.
The Great Almanac reports this technique and does not run it on anyone's chart. A person already knows their own family, a count that disagrees would be wrong, and one that agrees proves nothing. Families also include half-siblings, step-siblings, adopted siblings and siblings who died, which no ancient count can sort out.
The story behind Lot of Siblings
Dorotheus of Sidon gives these lots in the first book of the Carmen (I.13, I.14, I.19), and Vettius Valens and Paulus Alexandrinus repeat them. They are computed here in Valens's and Paulus's form. The copy of the Carmen we work from is a translation through Arabic, and its wording of the night versions does not read consistently, so where it differs the later Greek authors are followed.
Lot of Siblings in practice: an example
In the worked example, with Saturn at 12 degrees of Capricorn and Jupiter at 25 degrees of Sagittarius, the Lot of Siblings falls at 23 degrees of Virgo, by day and by night alike.
Sources and editorial method
This entry summarizes the tradition in the Almanac's own words; where no source is listed, it is an editorial summary rather than a primary text, and symbolic readings are named as the tradition's, not as fact.
- Source
- The Great Almanac Dictionary
- Category
- Astrology
- Aliases
- lot of brothers, part of brothers, part of siblings, lot of brothers and sisters, sibling lot astrology, lot of the number of siblings, how many siblings astrology
- Last updated
- 2026-09-26
See Lot of Siblings in your personal almanac
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Related terms
More in Astrology
- Nocturnal Chart
- Refranation
- Synastry
- Age of Pisces
- Birth Time
- Declination
- Essential Dignity
- Hemisphere Emphasis
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Common questions
What is the Lot of Siblings?
The Lot of Siblings, the old lot of brothers, is a calculated point found from Saturn to Jupiter and laid off from the Ascendant, the same by day and by night, and read for life among brothers and sisters.
How do you calculate the Lot of Siblings?
The Ascendant plus Jupiter minus Saturn, the same by day and by night in Valens and Paulus.
Is the Lot of Siblings the same as the lot of brothers?
Yes. The old texts call it the lot of brothers; it stands for brothers and sisters alike.
Can astrology count my siblings?
Dorotheus gives a lot from Mercury to Jupiter for counting siblings, and the page explains it. The Great Almanac does not apply it to anyone's chart: a person already knows their own family, and no ancient count can sort out half-siblings, step-siblings or adopted siblings.
What if I have no siblings?
The Great Almanac reads the lot for whoever stands as a sibling to you, cousins, close friends or colleagues of your own generation, and never as a statement about how many siblings you have.
