The United States is taking a lot of heat this week, literally and figuratively.

Record-breaking temperatures are baking much of the Western U.S. (To my readers in California and Arizona, I hope you are staying cool indoors.) The political heat is on, as well, just in time for the U.S. solar return – depending, of course, on which natal chart you use for the United States.

There are plenty of valid arguments for dates other than July 4, but this is the date on the Declaration of Independence, which we more or less consider our country’s birth certificate. It’s also the date in the collective consciousness, and so I’ll follow the people on this one. We were, after all, supposed to be a democracy. The exact time is debated as well, but according to Thomas Jefferson’s account, the debate was concluded in the evening. One of the best articles I’ve found discussing the U.S. birth chart was written by Dane Rudhyar in 1971. Rudhyar made a case for the popular “Sibly” chart, rectified by about four minutes.

I won’t do a complete analysis of the U.S. solar return chart, but I have a couple of comments to share. First, it is laid out similarly to the Cancer ingress chart I discussed in my June 17 forecast. In both charts, the Sun is in the fourth house, with the Uranus-Pluto square in the first and tenth. People are in a rebellious mood, and what transpires over the summer will continue to reverberate for an entire year. In both charts, Jupiter is sitting right on the fourth-house cusp, reinforcing the potential for devastating storms. There are a few major differences between the two charts, and of the two, I judge the solar return chart to be the most troublesome, which leads me to the conclusion that the summer’s political and weather-related activities will be a warm-up act for the rest of this year into mid-2014.

The two big astrological events of the summer are the grand water trine with Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune, and the cardinal T-square with Jupiter, Uranus and Pluto. Last week, the Sun formed a grand trine with Saturn and Neptune, giving us a taste of what’s to come under the more-powerful configuration, which peaks in mid-July. This week, the Sun forms the T-square, and so we’ll get a glimpse of what’s coming with the difficult Jupiter-Uranus-Pluto configuration in mid-August. I know, it’s all so confusing. And Mercury is retrograde, which doesn’t help with clarity or confidence.

Last week I watched The Prestige, with Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale as stage magicians in a death match to outdo one another’s illusions. David Bowie makes an appearance as real-life scientist Nikola Tesla, who is best known for his work with electricity. The plot jumps back and forth through time in a way I found confusing, but the nonlinear narrative was quite effective as a dramatic device, and it all made sense in the end. It seems as though current events are unfolding in a strange sort of discontinuous time, like in the film.

As this week begins, the cardinal T-square is already in effect, and it will remain in play through the weekend. The Sun forms an exact opposition to Pluto on Monday, and then squares Uranus on Thursday (late Wednesday in western time zones). Egypt is the latest hotbed of protest, and it looks like clashes are about to get violent as opponents of the current president call for his resignation.

Also on Monday, Venus squares Saturn, an astrological wet blanket if ever there was one. In Texas, Governor Rick Perry has called for a special legislative session to begin on Monday to readdress an abortion bill blocked last week after a filibuster by state Sen. Wendy Davis. Ceres is closely conjunct Venus and squares Saturn on Wednesday. It doesn’t look good for Davis and her supporters in the near term. If the legislative session drags on into the following week, the outlook is better for women’s rights advocates, as Venus will form a lovely trine to Uranus, planet of rebellion and change (the aspect is exact on July 7).

Saturn, meanwhile, is stationed to return direct next Monday. A planet is said to station when it appears to stop in the sky before changing direction. Stopped in Scorpio, Saturn will be stubborn as a mule. In general, I’d say that Saturn represents the “establishment,” but Saturn in Scorpio is a strange animal. Structures are ready to rot and break down, and with Uranus at the apex of a T-square, there’s no telling how events could defy even the surest of expectations.

Speaking of Uranus, T-squares, and rebellion, what better time could there be for reading the Declaration of Independence? If you haven’t done so in a while, I strongly suggest revisiting it. Our Founding Fathers – who surely would have been branded “terrorists” according to the current government definition – laid out quite a brilliant argument for abolishing a government that no longer serves the people. I have a feeling we could come up with a list of grievances as long as the colonists sent to King George.

The other aspect worth remarking on this week is the Moon’s entry into Cancer on Saturday. Normally, lunar movements are too fast to signify much more than fleeting events and moods. However, this will be the first conjunction of the Moon with Jupiter in Cancer. The Moon moves forward to conjoin Saturn and Neptune on Sunday. Again, we may get a quick glimpse of things to come as Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune approach an exact trine on July 17. That’s only a couple of weeks away, and it’s the most exciting, positive aspect we’ll experience all year.

Next week starts out with the New Moon in Cancer, so over the weekend start thinking about what projects you’d like to initiate. I just wish I could help you out in that regard with a StarGuide report, but that project is still on hold. Do keep in mind, though, that if you’d like a three-month transit report, you can order one for $19 (click here to see a sample).

Wishing you all much love and courage,
Pat