The journal: Crosses
Guides to buying, placing and caring for BDSM furniture, and longer reads on the archetypes and dynamics behind it.
What is impact play?
Read the article →What impact play is, how partners agree intensity and signals that work from behind, why technique is learned in person, and where a cross fits in.
Written by the Sanctum Domina teamLatest articles
What a home-built cross asks of you, what's hard to check yourself, how it stands, and when building or buying makes more sense.
Texture, temperature, sound and a blindfold: what sensation play is, how to agree it, signals that work without sight, and how a cross or bed shapes...
What carries over from using a cross at a club, what the club was quietly doing for you, and what to think about before you choose...
A cross holds a person standing; a bench supports them. How the two compare in the room, in a scene and day to day, and which...
A first scene at a cross needs a few agreements a bed doesn't: signals that work from behind, a plan for release, and somewhere to sit...
Every room makes a different case for where a cross should go, from dedicated spaces to sloping ceilings.
A frame for upright restraint, a place to be seen, a marker for ritual and a piece in the room, plus the uses no cross should...
It's natural to start by comparing crosses. Start with the room instead: the space around the frame, the light, the wall and the way in.
A bed asks where you sleep. A cross asks where your scenes happen. Which comes first depends on which question matters more to you both.
The same agreement, partner and trust feel quite different when one of you is standing at a cross. Understanding why helps you both prepare.
The frame is simple: two members crossing on the diagonal. The name reaches back through centuries of tradition, heraldry and flags.
Find your archetype, then read about it.
Three private quizzes: a readiness profile, and dominant and submissive archetype tests. Each result opens onto a long read in the journal.
See the testsAbout the journal
The Sanctum Domina journal is where we write about everything around the furniture: how to choose a BDSM bed, cross or cage, how to fix and place it, how to clean powder-coated steel, and how to plan a room that works for the people using it.
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Alongside the practical guides are longer reads on power exchange itself. The archetype series looks at five dominant styles, from the Architect to the Sensation Dominant, and six submissive ones, from service to the brat, and each piece links to the quizzes that point you towards it. The femdom guide covers rituals, rooms and the furniture that suits a female-led dynamic.
Everything here is written to be read carefully. We keep safety advice general and point you to experienced educators for anything hands-on, and every guide puts consent and conversation first. New articles go out to the mailing list, and the most useful ones are linked from the beds, crosses and cages pages.