Venus isn't just related to relationships or attraction, in fact it's main attributes go far beyond that. Most tend to limit Venus to these two things, because it is associated with Aphrodite, so most think of Venus as a soft, romantic energy. When the reality is very far from that, since Venus is everything but soft.
Due to it's association with the goddess Aphrodite, most individuals assume Venus is feminine in nature, when it's energy it's actually yang, because it is projecting in nature. Which is why individuals dominated by this planet are almost compulsive with creating things into the world. They are always giving away energy, not magnetizing, like the Moon, a yin planet, for example.
Any Venus person will tell you that, although they may appear soft on the outside, internally they are almost corrosive hot. Venus is the fiercest of all planets, which is why it is associated with the practice of Tantra in one's birth chart, for example and it's fierce form can be seen from Bharani nakshatra, as Yama, the God of Death. It is a fiery planet and the misinformation in western, tropical astrology is why Venus is so misunderstood ("Libra" people are so nice") and underlooked by most.
It is fierce and so deathly devoted to beauty (not what the rational mind or society considers beauty, of course, but the actual essence of beauty) that it seeks to sever anyone and anything unworthy of it, which is why Venus is related to refinement. It seeks to select only the best. Which is why Venus individuals are so hard to impress and can seem judgemental.
In Bharani, fierce Venus is born. Where it desires to sever and select. Here, Venus wants to test who is truly worthy of her Beauty.
This isn't soft and sweet Venus, this is severe, strict, it's cutting and brutally honest. It is selective, and although passionate, can be cold-blooded when it comes to calling out liars.
The combination of Mars and Venus, Yin and Yang, generates this impeccable capability to perceive duality, while itself remains unified.
Here we have the rawest, organic form of Venus. That thirsts to refine and separate true from false. Real from fake. This makes Bharani individuals so mercilessly honest, they might come off as rude, cruel or cold. But they simply have a strong sense of truth and ferociously stand up for it.
Which is why Swati/Libra is it's opposite. Swati is illusion. Bharani desires to cut through illusion.
Manifesting it's negative traits it can show up as elitist and judgemental, standoffish and unapproachable.
Here, Venus punishes the undeserving. Those who are passionless, compliant and deceptive. Tangled in duality, they refuse to recognize the Truth. And mostly, they refuse to pursue her, go through her illusion-consuming fire and lay down their ego.
Dare to tame Venus as Bharani 🌹. Here Venus finds love and pleasure.
Purva Phalguni, the second Venus-ruled Lunar Mansion is where we enjoy all the best things in life.
This portion of Venus resides within the fifth house of Leo. The house of our creations (literal children or things we create into the world), enjoyment, romance. The fifth house is related to the Sun, which represents our ego, and in Purva Phalguni we understand that we can only achieve the highest potential of our ego (individuation) by giving it all away selflessly to our beloved.
It takes true courage and fierceness which only Venus has, to give up your ego to your Love. Most individuals believe that they must hold on to their individuality for dear life, and although we should remain resilient with our Truth, we must know when to allow for passivity to happen.
Most of us simply become passive unconsciously, out of fearful beliefs. We allow ourselves to become passive to just about anyone we believe is superior than us in some way, and we allow for whatever individual to shape us with their ideas, while we follow along mindlessly.
What we should aim for is to actually listen to our intuition and know that we should only be passive towards our beloved. Which spiritually takes the form of our holy guardian angel, and physically takes the form of our soulmate.
It's not expected for everyone to understand Purva Phalguni and accept it. Most people will say this is nonsense and go on and on about postmodern social politics of man vs woman etc. Which of course, this has nothing to do with that but they are too caught up in their ego's ideas of gender to even begin to comprehend the sexual nature of the Universe.
And Venus in Bharani is there just for this reason: she cuts off those who can't understand out of illusions. You only reach Purva Phalguni and enjoy the ultimate bliss of union with the soulmate and the best things in life, when you are able to transcend your self made illusions about yourself and reality.
And instead of trying to impose your ideas, you are firm in Truth, dissolving in the pure ecstasy of Love. Which is all there is once all illusions are removed.