As a result of the “coupling” process, the MaH and BaN aspects continue along until they settle in the female in a sort of Hylic, amorphous lump that doesn’t assume its full shape until its parts blossom (much like a zygote that starts off tiny though genetically all-encompassing). The “pregnancy” stage is a “fleshing out” period of the various lights, i.e., Sephirot (like the zygote in its gestation process) which can then function. And “birth” is the whole thing coming to fruition and growing more and more on its own.
Here’s how it’s worded in the rest of Petach 66:
During the “coupling” process the subdivisions of MaH and BaN are drawn downward until everything settles in the female. And everything that needs to exist in that light is contained there in general, no more and no less than is necessary.
This general formation must then to be subdivided into its parts, but it, i.e., the “offspring”, isn’t made manifest there until all of those parts are fully manifested. As such, until that happens, it, i.e., the “offspring”, is concealed within the light it depends on in order to be completed by it. This is because the lights of the one¸ i.e., of the “offspring”, can only be completed through the lights of the other, i.e., of the female from which it was formed.
Once it, i.e., the “offspring”, reaches the stage where all of its details are manifest then, even though each contains only the barest amount of illumination possible, it, i.e., the “offspring”, is then made manifest, since there’s no need to differentiate its light any further, and it can only gain further ability and illumination during the “suckling” process.
“Birth” occurs when it, i.e., the “offspring”, is made manifest from the higher light outward.
(c) 2014 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org
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