Is it safe to use an 8 month old sourdough starter?

Back in March of this year, I purchased a live sourdough starter from breadtopia thru Amazon. At the time of ordering, I did not realize it was a live starter (my bad). So when it arrived and I read the package which said to feed it immediately, I did not have the time so I thought it would be ok in the fridge, never opened, for a couple days until I could get to it.

However, I have adhd so I forgot about it. Fast forward to yesterday (11/21/22) when I randomly thought, I want to make a sourdough loaf for Thanksgiving and then remembered the sourdough starter. So I followed the directions to revive it even though it was much later than instructed. After about 12 hours it has a few bubbles on top so I thought it must still be good so I proceeded to the next step of the initial full feeding and am waiting to see if it springs up. 

But in the meantime I am now worried that it isn't even safe to use since it was in an airtight sealed package in its more dormant paste-like form for so long... is there a chance of some odd contamination such as botulism? 

Btw, I'm an absolute sourdough noob.