Solstice Sunset. Looking northwest on Puget Sound, 9:20 p.m. © Pat Paquette, 2013.

When I was in kindergarten, I refused to drink my milk.

My teacher, Mrs. King, made me sit alone at a table in a dark corner until I finished it. For everyone else, it was playtime. When this strategy failed to work, she sent me home with a note telling my mother I had a problem with authority.

I lived out in the country, an hour’s bus ride from school. Every day on the way home, while all the other kids played and shouted, I leaned my head against the cold glass. I never mentioned it to anyone – probably because I had no idea that I had a headache or that this was abnormal. One day, it was so bad that I about passed out when I got home. I remember my mother carrying me up the stairs. Still, no one thought it unusual. Back then, milk was considered the perfect food, and I lived in the second-largest dairy state in the nation (behind Wisconsin). My father was a dairy farmer. No one suspected that I was allergic to milk.

I finally figured it out at 21, still well before dairy allergies were studied and publicized. As a child, all I could say was that it was “yucky” and I didn’t like it. Adults, however, had all the power, and I was forced against my will to do something that was bad for me. It likely was one of the defining moments in my childhood development.

It’s no coincidence, then, that I sympathize with protestors around the world who are rightly upset with tyrannical governments who insist they know what’s good for the population better than the people themselves. Instead of being forced to sit in a corner, those who don’t go along with the program get water cannons, tear gas, and rubber bullets. They get thrown in jail. And right now, it seems that they are overpowered.

As a child, I didn’t have the knowledge or the vocabulary to fight the appropriately named Mrs. King. Even if I had, I doubt she would have listened, as the notion that milk could be bad for a child was simply too outrageous to believe. I knew instinctively that something was wrong, but that didn’t count. Collectively, we know instinctively that something is very wrong, despite what we’re being told and what many of us have believed for so long. Whistleblowers like Bradley Manning, Julian Assange, and Edward Snowden are supplying knowledge, and yet the truth is too outrageous for many people to believe. For many, it’s easier to believe outrageous lies.

By now, even people who don’t believe in astrology must be wondering whether there is something going on “up there” to account for the increasing number of protests and riots around the world. That something, as you know, is the Uranus-Pluto square, with Uranus in volatile Aries and Pluto in domineering Capricorn. Police in riot gear are a perfect image for Pluto in Capricorn.

And yet, Pluto is also about revealing hidden secrets – all the more so with Pluto in mutual reception with Saturn in penetrating Scorpio (mutual reception occurs when each of two planets is in the sign ruled by the other). Snowden’s revelation of NSA spying on U.S. citizens is a manifestation of the same energy as the massive anti-government protests in Brazil and Turkey. In Brazil, the spark that lit the fuse was a 9-cent increase in public transportation fare. In Turkey, it was a plan to turn a city park into a shopping mall. I often wonder what it would take to light a fuse under this country. Apparently, being spied on isn’t enough.

Last week, I was listening to an interview with Ralph Nader, a longtime consumer advocate and former presidential candidate, talking about a federal minimum wage.

“Thirty million workers in this country are making less today than that workers made in 1968, inflation-adjusted,” Nader said in an interview with Aaron Maté of Democracy Now. “… [T]he question is: Is our society so inert, is our society so surrendering of any kind of civic sovereignty, that we cannot get a minimum wage equal to 1968?”

Nader goes on to denounce President Obama, asking whether there has been “a bigger con man in the White House.” Whatever you may think of Nader, you have to give him credit for a sense of humor in the title of his latest book, I Told You So. He has made many predictions over the years that were ignored or dismissed. As an astrologer, I know how he feels.

[headline h=”4″]This week’s forecast[/headline]This week, we have two major shifts, both in Cancer, a sign very much concerned with security and patriotism. On Tuesday, Jupiter enters Cancer, the sign of his exaltation. The following day, Mercury turns retrograde in Cancer.

When I think of Jupiter entering Cancer, Gustav Holst’s Planets suite inevitably takes over my brain. (You can listen online or download a very fine version for free here. Be sure to read the copyright notice.) Jupiter has been in detriment in Gemini and so not as jolly as his big, expansive character would like. He’ll more than make up for it in Cancer, although I wouldn’t put it past him to stir up some massive storms. He may get overly patriotic, too, and he’ll definitely be big on national security, especially when it comes to foreigners. These less desirable qualities may come to the fore in August, when he forms a T-square with Uranus and Pluto. But for the next month, he forms a rare and highly favorable grand trine with Saturn and Neptune, and there will be unprecedented opportunities to make some much-needed changes. We’ll have to act fast, because the window is short.

Mercury turns retrograde on Wednesday at 23 degrees Cancer. This is a good time to look at your past, particularly in terms of how your childhood and early home life shaped you as an adult (thus, the personal anecdote above). Ethnicity sometimes comes into play. I also like to consider past lives. Conventional psychoanalysts like to pin all of our complexes on bad potty training or inadequate bonding with mommy and daddy. We come into this incarnation with a chart, which can express itself in unlimited ways. For some of us, being born at that exact moment can be traced to our karmic past.

Mercury turns retrograde just a degree shy of natal Mercury in the chart of the United States (Sibly) and will be in close conjunction with the U.S. Sun when he turns direct on July 20. It’s likely that any discussions of Snowden’s revelations will occur in the context of damaging national security. Most of our political leaders, including the president, say Snowden is a criminal and should be extradited for prosecution. There likely will be discussions about how to prevent future leaks.

Also on Wednesday, we have a lovely grand water trine with the Sun in Cancer, Saturn in Scorpio, and Neptune in Pisces. Keep your antennae up, and you’ll get some hints about the good things to come when Jupiter steps into the Sun’s place in mid-July. In the meantime, deep feelings may surface by day or night this week. Pay attention to your dreams. Write down your goals and aspirations. If you’re a writer or artist, this is an incredibly fertile time for you. Have a notepad handy wherever you go to write down flashes of inspiration.

On Thursday, Venus leaves Cancer and enters Leo. This is a showy, flashy Venus who loves bling and being the center of attention. She’s glamorous, but unfortunately more into style than substance. But sometimes style is what we want. I have to say that I’ve always had great haircuts while Venus was in Leo. If Venus is in Leo in your birth chart, you’ll soon have your “Venus return.” The Venus return chart can be a great tool for looking at where love or money (or both) will show up in your life over the next year or so.

On a final note, in case you missed my announcement last week, I’m offering a Summer 2013 transit report in place of StarGuide, which I’m not going to be able to prepare for at least two weeks, possibly longer. If you don’t want to wait, you can order your transits now, I’ll apply the cost toward the full report once it becomes available. (Click here to view a sample.)

Wishing you all much love and courage,
Pat