I’ve designed this work sheet to help people overcome negative associations and stuck personal growth due to how they perceive placements of ‘detriment’ or ‘fall.’ Let’s use Venus in Virgo as an example. On the left start a column “My positive traits.” List one at a time. Only after you have listed one do you get to list something in the column for “negative traits.” Then go back to the positive column and list another. Then you can list another negative. Always list one positive first. This is a self-esteem building and self-perception changing exercise. Don’t list more than four items in each column.
Venus in Virgo
| My positive traits | negative traits |
| aesthetic for spatial order | too nitpicky about neatness |
| attentive with those I care about | see things in them I think should be fixed |
| I’m a helper | I’m too interested in being seen as ‘good’ |
Now what you do is determine the underlying issue with those negatives. It’s pretty much guaranteed it will either be a particular fear — or a hole in your self-esteem. Write each discovery about that on the page under the columns. Now fold the page up so only the positives are noticeable and carry that with you or keep it where it is visible for at least a few days (or a few weeks). Re-read it and think about how these positives are important to who you are.
If after contemplating this exercise for a while you cannot seem to find even one positive to write, then two things: stop reading shallow astrology material and start working on your self-esteem immediately. I recommend the book Honoring the Self by Nathaniel Branden. Self-esteem is more fundamental than any particulars found in astrology. It is yours. You can change it now. That is the book I recommend for anyone to get started developing real self-esteem. Most of us need to. Fault lines in self-worth show up in the most insidious ways. Pride or inflated ego are not self-esteem but a cover-up for poor self-esteem. Self-acceptance and self-encouragement are the most important things to personal growth.
Kannon McAfee Natural Healing 
I like the positive spin you put on your astrology interpretations, but sometimes the “gloom and doom” interpretations seems to make sense in a person’s life experiences. I recently experienced the death of a beloved pet cat that I had for almost 16 years. She became covered with fleas and began biting and scratching herself almost non stop during the weekend of June 19, so on Monday morning, June 21, I gave her a bath and put on what I thought was a safe, all-natural flea collar that contained cedar and peppermint. She wasn’t happy with the collar, but I thought it was just that it was a strong scent, and when the smell wore off, she would be o.k., but by Wednesday, she was noticeably distraught, so I did a web search and found out that peppermint is toxic to cats. I took off the collar late on Wednesday, but by Thursday morning, she died. I guess I’m telling this story here for two reasons. One, all-natural isn’t always safe and two, some people have trouble overcoming their negative aspects. I have my Mars at 0° Cancer and my Asc at 2° Cancer which squares my sun in 29° Virgo and is opposite my Jupiter 25° Sag. (Of course, the Jupiter is also Square to my Sun.)
I didn’t realize it at the time, but June 21-24, when this all happened, the sun would have been in conjunction with my Mars, so it would seem that my actions caused this fatal experience. It’s hard not to blame myself, and seeing again how my astrological chart contains potentially negative energy, doesn’t allow for a high sense of self-esteem. A person sometimes feels “doomed,” so to speak. I admire the fact that you can be optimistic, even when things look grim.
I’m so sorry you lost your cat. Essential oils are indeed toxic to cats. But please, don’t blame yourself.
Yes, we can have trouble overcoming something that could be described as negative factors in our birth charts. That’s why I made the suggestion of the columns in which a person can rationally think through it instead of getting set into a pattern of negative emotions associated with such astrological factors.
No chart factor and no one’s chart disallows good self-esteem. It’s just that good self-esteem isn’t necessary there by default. So then we have to create it.
Please, don’t blame yourself. It was a tough learning experience. Forgive yourself and let love take hold again — love for your cat and yourself.
Thank you for the kind words. It definitely was a tough learning experience.