Mystics see in vision the leader they believe in. "According to talmudic tradition, the prophet Elijah never died, and many saintly persons in the period of the Talmud and thereafter, down to recent times, have been reputedly visited and taught by him. Such a privilege is called gillui Elijah--Elijah's self-revelation."
The Kabbalah has admitted that the gillui Elijah does not necessarily imply a visual manifestation: "To some Elijah reveals himself through the soul, by way of the intellect, to some by the way of wisdom, and to some--face to face."--Tikkunei Zohar Hadash. The Maharal of Prague, creator of the famous golem (robot), wrote (Nezah Israel, chapter XXVIII): "There is no difference whether Elijah's presence be seen or not seen, for often Elijah tells one various things without the recipient's awareness of the source of his information."-- H.L. Gordon, The Maggid of Caro
-- Notebooks Category 16: The Sensitives > Chapter 15 : Illuminations > # 61
