A BRIDGE TO THE RELINQUISHED
PARTS OF SELF AND SOCIETY
In Greek mythology, the river Styx was the sacred passage which connected the dualities of the world- life and death, shadow and light, conscious and unconscious- the Styx was a revered point of transition and source of power for the Gods, giving life and taking it away.
The River Styx
The RiverStyx Foundation
is a philanthropic organization that strives to work at this boundary place. Through grant-making and seeding non-profits, Riverstyx attends to the places in society and our psychology which have been relegated to the shadows- out of fear, ignorance, and puritan influence- recognizing that which is repressed only festers and breeds pathology in its unnatural separation.
The goal is not to rid life of its darkness, but rather to reconcile it into our lives, to make relationship, and to honor both light and dark as necessarily two sides of the same coin.
In doing so, may we come into greater balance, beauty, and belonging.
Areas of Focus
Societal
Drug Policy Reform, Economic Justice, Criminal Justice
PsychoSpiritual
Psychedelics, Spirituality, End-of-Life
BioCultural
Dark Night Skies,
Composting Toilets,
Green Burial
Indigenous
Peyote Conservation, Sacred Plant Medicines
How The River Flows
The RiverStyx is a charitable foundation that works to provide a bridge to the relinquished parts of ourselves, our society, and our ecology by funding and initiating projects that demonstrate the potential for healing when life is embraced in its fullest expression.
Preference to
early-stage projects
and emergent paradigms with the potential to deliver innovative models, tools, and policy for social transformation. Riverstyx Foundation can be nimble and risk tolerant, striving to transcend linear metrics of success, and to offer seed funding where others are less likely to invest.
Assistance to fringe projects, organizations, and social models that challenge fear-based paradigms and promote new perspectives of compassion and health. We seek high-leverage social change by providing resources to fringe areas that have been most stigmatized and disregarded by society and the funding community, in hopes of effectuating enduring change in both cultural awareness and social policy.
Multi-year commitments
recognizing that start-up projects and organizations take time to advance beyond proof of concept to actual performance and stabilization where other donors will be inclined to invest. We develop trusted partnerships with organizations reducing the need for arduous reporting and bureaucracy.
"One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious."
-Carl Jung