The Friends Palace (仆役宫 / 交友宫) in Zi Wei Dou Shu
Updated 2026-08-12
The wide circle, not the close one
This is the palace of people who are around rather than in. Colleagues, contacts, the group you are part of, the people who would come to an event but not to a crisis.
The older name 仆役宫 translates awkwardly — it referred to servants and subordinates in a household. Modern practice uses 交友宫 and reads it as the network: who you attract at that distance, and whether they add to your life or draw on it.
The four palaces read together
Friends sits opposite Siblings and shares its triangle with Parents and Children. The group is about people across distances of relation — the ones who came before, the ones who come after, and the ones simply nearby.
| Palace | Chinese | Why it is read with this one |
|---|---|---|
| Friends | 仆役宫 | The palace itself. |
| Siblings | 兄弟宫 | Directly opposite. Whatever sits here is felt in the Friends Palace at full strength — the two are one axis, not two topics. |
| Parents | 父母宫 | Triangle point. Supports or drains the palace depending on what sits in it. |
| Children | 子女宫 | Triangle point. Same. |
What this palace is good for
A palace is never read alone. It is read together with the palace directly opposite it and the two at the triangle points — in Chinese, san fang si zheng (三方四正), "three sides and four corrects." A difficult star here is not a verdict; it is weighed against the three palaces facing it, and a strong palace opposite can reverse the reading entirely. Any reading that quotes one palace to you in isolation has skipped the method.
It is the palace to read before going into partnership. A chart can show a wide, warm, easy circle and still show that formal partnership with those same people goes badly — those are two different readings from the same palace, and only one of them shows up at a dinner.
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Questions
The Friends Palace (仆役宫 / 交友宫) covers your wider social and professional circle — colleagues, contacts, networks — as opposed to the small group of people you are genuinely close to, which is read from the Siblings Palace.
The older Chinese name 仆役宫 referred to servants and subordinates in a household. Modern practice generally uses 交友宫 and reads it as the network and the wider circle.