SStarMist Cuveen formally existed from February 1982 until November 1988 and was led by Moondancer and Raven.
StarMist Cuveen followed the establishment of Blue Star Cuveen and is understood to have been the second of the StarBorn cuveens. Although the founding date of Blue Star Cuveen is not firmly documented, it predates 1981, and Zanoni Silverknife, Moondancer, and Rowan Ambersdaughter were already working together by the time of the Beltane 1980 event. Following Moondancer’s discharge from the Navy in March 1980, he remained in the Bakersfield area for several months and traveled regularly for sabbats, rituals, and related work, before relocating toward the end of 1980 to Rancho Palos Verdes.
A note dated August 21, 1981, records the expectation that Moondancer would soon meet a woman who would become his mate, explicitly stating that he had not yet met her at that time. Moondancer and Raven met the following weekend, and notes from subsequent meetings document her presence shortly thereafter.¹
StarMist was established in late 1981 by Moondancer and Raven, who wed shortly thereafter. Formal acceptance of the cuveen’s establishment within the StarBorn tradition was given in February 1982 by Zanoni Silverknife. Its training and ritual practice drew on a combination of materials from Georgian, NECTW, New York Welsh, 1734, British Traditional, and other training and lore that Moondancer had acquired over the years.
As Lady Raven wrote:
“We worked mainly in Georgian/Welsh/Star Born until 1984. During that summer I began to cull through my Book and discard anything that didn’t ‘speak’ to my soul. What I was left with was a mixture of 1734, Welsh, Star Born, and NECTW. That Yule we met two people who played a big part in the changes we next went through.
Murtagh and Gwethalyn were initiates from the East Coast from TDD (Tuatha de Danaan), an offshoot branch of NECTW. After months of talk and visits, they agreed to elevate Moondancer and myself to the Third Degree as a way to tie our two lines together.”
From 1984 until 1987, StarMist was a member of the Southern California Local Council of the Covenant of the Goddess. When Raven and Moondancer moved from California to Washington, the coven hived into StarMist Cuveen and StarMist Grove, a training group. StarMist Grove closed shortly thereafter, and ShadowDragon Coven moved into the Georgian Tradition. StarMist Cuveen itself closed and reformed as Nemed Cuculatii in November 1988.
As Lady Raven continued:
“From there to here has been a long strange journey (as Jerry Garcia once said), but the trip has been a good one. Somewhere around 1992, Moondancer and I flew to New York to visit with Gwion from the New York Welsh Tradition and Theitic of NECTW. There, we spent an enjoyable weekend doing ritual, discussion, and shopping. The following year, Theitic flew out to Seattle and spent a weekend talking with us, culminating in our being elevated to High Priestess and High Priest in NECTW.
Since that time, we have worked strictly within the NECTW framework and have used it in our training of students.”
It should also be noted that pagan author Kisma Stepanich has listed, at least in the past, in her curriculum vitae that she was a founding member of Star Mist in Southern California. At no point was Ms. Stepanich affiliated with our coven. Her coven affiliation during that period was with the Cauldron of Cerridwen, whom we knew through mutual participation within the Southern California Local Council of the Covenant of the Goddess. In email exchanges, she has confirmed that she was referring to a different “Star Mist.”
Footnote 1 (Oral History)
As recalled by those who knew them at the time, Moondancer’s attachment to Raven was immediate and unmistakable. Accounts of their first meeting, and of an incident shortly thereafter in which Raven forcefully discouraged another mutual friend from flirting with him, were relayed to the author by someone who was present for those events. These stories consistently describe Moondancer as deeply smitten yet largely oblivious to Raven’s interest, while Raven was remembered as fierce, decisive, and entirely certain of her intent.
The author was personally present for later events that autumn. During Samhain weekend of 1981, Moondancer attended a sabbat and a lecture/workshop conducted by a couple recently returned from the UK, where they had met with practitioners who had worked with Robert Cochrane. Despite the significance of the occasion, he spent much of the lecture distracted—watching the clock, wondering what Raven might be doing, and how soon he would be able to call her and hear her voice. Those present later remarked that he had “a bad case of it.” Moondancer and Raven were married six weeks later.