About Hodie Partner & Saint Expedite
About Hodie Partner
Weclome to Hodie Partner: an experimental, digital offering space dedicated to the lovely and speedy Saint Expedite. After experimenting with personal digital offering spaces both online and off, I decided to build something that others could play with as well. My aim is to create an experience where others can experiment and see for themselves whether they find digital rituals and offerings effective when working with spirits and archetypes such as saints.
While I haven't worked with Expedite for very long, it's fair to say that we became fast friends. In my personal practice, he easily syncretizes with Mercury, who I've been working with for quite some time in the realm of overlap between the digital and the spiritual. In his many faces and expressions, Mercury speaks to many of the same concerns that Expedite does: information and its passage through the realms and the swiftness or quickening of that passage.
These two themes - information and rapid transformation - are central to this project's experimental use of generative AI. In my work with St. Expedite, I employed traditional methods of propitiation: prayer, red candles, offerings of pound cake and flowers, sacred incense, and consecrated oils. But I also asked him to work through a different kind of randomness - the probabilistic nature of AI language models. Just as diviners throughout history have interpreted meaning in the random patterns of geomancy's dots and lines or the chance arrangements of tarot cards, I began exploring how St. Expedite's quick and transformative energy might manifest through the controlled chaos of AI text generation. The "temperature" setting in these models - which controls how random versus deterministic their outputs are - creates a fascinating parallel to the way heat and flame have traditionally been used in spiritual practices to transform matter and meaning. Through this digital interface, I'm exploring how ancient practices of working with saints and spirits might evolve alongside our newest technologies, while maintaining their essential character of transformation through controlled uncertainty.
In building Hodie Partner, I've embraced AI as both a tool and a collaborator. Generative AI models assisted in various aspects of development - from writing copy and generating images to creating 3D models. Rather than polish away all the artifacts of this process, I've intentionally preserved some of these "glitches" - like the slightly uncanny features of the saint's digital statue. These imperfections are where I believe the spiritual has the most potential to manifest through technology, in those liminal spaces between the intended and the emergent.
If you're interested in supporting this experimental work, please consider making a purchase on the platform. You can also support me directly by subscribing at spucchi.com.
Hodie!
Jove
About Saint Expedite
Saint Expedite is the patron saint of urgent causes, emergencies, and quick solutions. Known for his swift assistance to those in need, he is traditionally depicted as a Roman centurion holding a cross marked "HODIE" (Latin for "today") in one hand, while crushing a crow saying "CRAS" (Latin for "tomorrow") under his foot—symbolizing the triumph of immediate action over procrastination.
The most famous story of St. Expedite comes from New Orleans, where a mysterious crate arrived at the Ursuline Convent marked only with the word "EXPEDITE." Inside was a statue of an unknown saint, which the nuns interpreted as divine providence and named him St. Expedite. This statue now resides in Our Lady of Guadalupe Chapel (formerly St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 Mortuary Chapel) in New Orleans, where he has become deeply integrated into the city's unique spiritual traditions.
Devotion to St. Expedite often involves specific offerings: pound cake, red flowers, and candles are traditional gifts given in thanks for his intercession. Believers typically make a promise to publicly thank the saint upon receiving his help, reflecting the immediate and reciprocal nature of his patronage. Today, St. Expedite continues to be venerated worldwide, particularly by those seeking urgent assistance in matters of business, legal issues, examinations, or any situation requiring quick resolution.