The idea was the God could not be complete, whole, until he was united with her. The Kabbalists believed that it was God's lost of his Shekina which brought about evil. Mani referred to the Aeons of sh'kinas or female spirits of the sacred year.
Man becomes a Bridegroom of the Torah by study, symbolized in erotic imagery.
He has to court her as he would a beautiful maiden. She begins from behind a curtain to speak words in keeping with his understanding, until very slowly insight comes to him. As man requires his Shekina for his enlightenment, so God requires his Shekina for his wisdom and creativity. A crucial tenet of Kabbalism which is seldom emphasized if mentioned at all.