The Order of the Golden Star was born in the fall of 2008 with it's first hearth in Phoenix, AZ. The purpose of the Order is to serve it's matron Welsh Goddess, Branwen. She is one of the three Matriarchs of Britain and is the Goddess of love and beauty and heals the broken-hearted. She is Sovereign and is seen as a bridge between Avalon and Eire of the Nine Sisterhoods. Specific to the Order, She is respected as a sorceress who brings forth and communicates with the dead via Her Cauldron of Rebirth. The Order's treasure is the Cauldron. Branwen teaches us of Immortality, hope and of the force which brings forth the Essence of Life.
The Order ever develops from inner-meditation, Immrama, ritual, dreams, research and deep contemplation. The true advice and inspiration of the Order comes from Branwen in all Her forms. As anyone may attest there is much reclaiming work yet to unfold of the Avalonian tradition from all eras. Ladies of the Order work with Branwen of the present era as well as Avalon of the present.
It is believed that the golden light of the star guides those in darkness towards healing and renewal. Healing by all modalities for people, plants and animals is of the upmost importance to the Order. The eight points of the Order's star remind us of the Celtic wheel of the year, some also say it resembles Ishtar's disc and others point out similarities to the stars on the Star card of the Tarot.
The Ladies who serve in the Order are required to have a Fay education and are free to acquire their own hearth; keep sacred their personal religious format and personal vows to the Goddess. Ladies of the Order commune with the Spirits of the Land of which they dwell and raise their hearth. Ladies strive to know and harness the energy of the element of the place they serve; to visualize and understand nature in everything and therefore the Goddess and God in all things mundane and Otherworldly. Here we may find ourselves for we are One with the natural world. Ladies may uphold other goddesses and gods, as the Lady Valla reveres Brighid of Danu, and the hallows and companions of the 4 cities; greatly respects Queen Maebd and her daughters for their magickal knowledge. Ladies of the Order also accept the landscape of Bran the Blessed as it relates to Branwen, his sister. Bran is understood as a guardian of the life-giving cauldron.
Foundress of the Order, Lady Valla, was born in Virginia. Her father's name is German with an emphasis of the bear in the name and on the family shield. The clan of the bear of the Morovigingian Dynasty was Arthur's kingdom. Lady Valla's mother line is named after the Celtic god of love and beauty. The first king of Norway is also an ancestor of her mother's bloodline. It is said that the Fay people taught the bear people their magick, while the bear clan's responsibility was to sustain arms.
The Lady Valla's spiritual education blossoms from Sister Morgaine of the Avalonian Druid Order; Sister Vivianne and Sister Aauraine of the Three Stones Pagan Abbey; Brighid's Academy of the Healing Arts from Cill Dara, Ireland; and her own Grandmother's wisdom. The Lady Valla is a Sister in the Three Stones Pagan Abbey. She is a healer of animals and is continuing her medical and spiritual education as she pursues Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine.
~The moment Lady Valla learned she was called to serve Branwen she did not believe it and stated she did not know who Branwen was, nor was she called to Her. In the next instant the fire alarm began blaring right above Lady Valla's head! She walked away humbled yet amazed.
The Order of the Golden Star
