Wow. Fascinating. I love that I learn new things here every day. Thank you … again!

I think that I’m nervous, scared, and excited about what is coming around the corner. I’m hopeful that the changes will bring something positive in the long run but scared that humanity will spiral downward in reaction to this. I am mostly hopeful that astrologers like you continue to give hope and guidance and clear understanding… it will make a difference!

The Saturn (cold, hard ‘reality’) series of oppositions to Neptune (exacting on and off through the last appx. 10 months!! period ending in late June of ‘07) has reflected many illusions (Neptune) bashing up against the rocks of material, causal reality (Saturn).
Our most convenient example is Iraq, but so many of the other adventures by this administration illustrate this tendency, especially of late.
As far as ‘horrific behavior’, the feelings of desperation and ‘no alternative’ indicated by the inflexibility and cold insensitivity of Saturn can bring out people’s extremist action, born, again, of perceived desperation and/or lack of real alternatives.

I disagree about there not being crimes of passion since I myself nearly committed a couple.

In life I am not a violent person, and I’m always blathering on about peaceful measures yadda yadda but I remember when I saw someone beating up my dog I went berserk. In an instant. And I was on top of them screaming and shouting and kicking and punching the person in turn.

I in no way planned the behaviour, it just happened because a switch in my core got flipped and I can imagine how with enough stimulation and in the right context people don’t stop at assault.

My husband is a similarly peaceful man who doesn’t plot revenge or think about vindictiveness very much. But flip the right switch (such as say have someone attack me or the baby) and he would be fully capable of killing that person.

I remember a girl I went to university with who had repressed pretty much every emotion except the ones which she had invested in her relationship. And thinking that if I ever hoped someone’s husband never cheated on them it was hers, because if he did and she caught him I genuinely can’t imagine what she’d do but nervous breakdown/killing someone seemed the most likely options.

Crimes of passion are rare and very specific in that they are completely unplanned. They are an overreaction to a situation upon which the person stumbles and they don’t involve thinking at all about what someone did last week but just pure reaction in that second.

Nia if your friend from school showed up to do her crime of passion killing and a cop was sitting outside… whoops! Abort.

As for killing “in the second” I suppose it’s possible but the research does not bear this out at all.

Just my two cents worth…I haven’t read the research, but I suspect the qualifications for defining the parameters might clarify things. And I’m sure it’s a hard thing to define since we live in a violent, sick and dysfunction world right now. Everything is on a gradient and to cross the line into killing someone when that is not normally something that is part of your make-up, or being uncharacteristically violent, smacks of temporary insanity. So, no such thing as crimes of passion? I don’t buy it because that would mean that nobody ever goes over that edge of relative sanity.

Like Nia said, it’s rare, and when the rage becomes so great that you think you’ve lost control, it’s hard to know really. Especially since most of us lead lives where we are not really in control to begin with, otherwise we wouldn’t have addictions, wouldn’t cowtow to the fears and pressures of society etc. We are also very conditioned to respect the authority of the police, and so that particular threat will short circuit most feelings of being out of control. But I can imagine situations where it wouldn’t - a true “crime of passion”.

I used to watch a television program long ago, I think put out by BBC - definitely British…it was fascinating.

the flood of brain chemicals that is “passion,” as in crimes of, seems to me a lot like intoxication. people get intoxicated by their brain chemicals and their inhibitions are lowered. but they still wouldn’t do something that is not within them to do.

I remember when I was fighting for my life I had the opportunity to kill or very badly hurt the person attacking me. I didn’t take it. I used my wits to escape instead. and now I know that it’s not in me to kill a person, at least at that level where I felt I still had other alternatives. I knew I might fail and die, but I chose differently. and I know more about myself because of it. I don’t think I would be very happy with myself now had I chosen differently. I would KNOW that I chose to kill… though few would have faulted me given the situation.

I’m not sure how I would choose today. the stakes are higher (more kids to take care of) and I’m older (less confidence in my physical ability to persevere). but because of the earlier situation I have a good deal of confidence in my extreme situational decision-making abilities.

satori - wow. amazing what people round here have been through.

What about transporting rage? Not even in official crimes, but in hitting somebody or yelling at them in the moment, we do hurt them, but how much do we really plan? Hurting someone in a capacity is a kind of crime. Do we really always take stock of our surroundings? Would you stop yelling at so and so if a cop came around?

I gotta add a few things here. I did not mean to be a troll and contradict anyone on this page. I still don’t have a definitive answer personally. It only matters when a killer is let loose, sane or not sane. Finding effective solutions to the lesser crimes is more complex. I cant help thinking about the Prison Industrial Complex which is a whole other related topic, as well as mental institutions.