TRAPPED IN A MASONIC WORLD

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These typically build up to the 12th of July celebrations, which mark Prince William of Orange‘s victory
over King James II, at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. He is still depicted in the iconography of the
Orange Order, whose name comes from William's dynasty, and Black Nobility/Illuminati group of
families; the House of Orange-Nassau. The Orange Institution in Ireland works on a pyramidal structure,
where at its base, are around 1,400 private lodges; every Orangeman belongs to a private lodge. Each
private lodge sends six representatives to the district lodge, of which there are 126. Depending on size,
each district lodge sends seven to thirteen representatives to the county lodge, of which there are 12. Each
of these sends representatives to the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, which heads the Orange Order. As a
result, much of the real power in the Order resides in the Central Committee of the Grand Lodge, which is
made up of three members from each of the six counties of Northern Ireland, Londonderry, Antrim, Down,
Tyrone, Armagh, and Fermanagh, as well as the two other County Lodges in Northern Ireland, the City of
Belfast Grand Lodge and the City of Londonderry Grand Orange Lodge, two each from the remaining
Ulster counties [Cavan, Donegal, and Monaghan], one from Leitrim, and 19 others. There are other
committees of the Grand Lodge, including rules revision, finance, and education. [6]
The Orange Order in December 2009 held secret talks with Northern Ireland‘s two main unionist parties
the Democratic Unionist Party, [DUP] and the Ulster Unionist Party [UUP]. The main goal of these talks
was to form greater unity between the two parties, in the run-up to the May 2010 general election. Sinn
Féin‘s Alex Maskey said that the talks exposed the Order as ―A very political organisation‖. - Shortly
after the election, Grand Master Robert Saulters called for a single unionist party to maintain the union.
He said in a very Purplite revolutionary way; ―...that the Order has members who represent all the many
shades of unionism‖, and warned; ―We will continue to dilute the union if we fight and bicker among
ourselves‖. - Throughout the history of the Orange Order, Orange walks have faced opposition, generally
from Catholics and nationalists, who feel that the parades are sectarian and full of triumphalism, and find
the parades offensive wherever they take place, in which conflict usually only arises when a walk passes
through or near a Catholic-dominated area. [6]
During ‗The Troubles‘ many marchers were verbally abused, had things thrown at them or, and less
commonly were shot at, and particularly with fireworks. The marching season required high levels of
police involvement to prevent major outbreaks of violence, and as a result parading was banned in the
region on several occasions in the early 1970‘s, [5] although the ban was never in place on the 12th of July,
when most of the trouble is likely to take place.
Currently, there are more than 2,000 annual parades in Northern Ireland and the best known of these is
the ―Drumcree conflict‖. The Drumcree area, near Portadown has a history of parading disputes going
back to the nineteenth century, and the current dispute centres on the refusal of the Parades Commission to
allow the Portadown lodge through the Catholic Garvaghy Road during their annual celebrations in early
July. However, today most of this route falls within the town‘s mainly-Catholic and nationalist quarter,
which is densely populated. The residents have sought to re-route the parade away from this area, seeing it
as antagonistic and even supremacist. [5]
Just like the Freemason fraternity in general, they have affiliation groups and organisations all over the
world, and as I‘ve already said, many other Orange Order marches and parades also take place in these
other countries. Even a distinct women‘s organisation has grown up out of the Orange Order, called the
Association of Loyal Orange-women of Ireland, this organisation was revived in December 1911 having
been dormant since the late 1880‘s. They have risen in prominence in recent years, largely due to protests
in Drumcree. The women‘s order is parallel to the men‘s order, and participates in its parades as much as
the males, apart from ‗all male‘ parades and ‗all ladies‘ parades respectively. The contribution of women
to the Orange Order is recognised in the song; ―Ladies Orange Lodges O!‖
The Royal Black Institution was formed in Ireland in 1797, two years after the founding of the parent
body. Although it is a separate organisation, one of the requirements for membership in the Royal Black is
membership of the Orange Order and to be no less than 17 years old. The membership is exclusively male
and the Royal Black Chapter is generally considered to be more religious and respectable in its
proceedings than the Orange Order. [5] The society is formed from Orangemen and can be seen as a
progression of that Order although they are separate institutions. Anyone wishing to be admitted to the
Royal Black Institution must first become a member of an Orange Order Lodge, and many are members of
both. [6]
The Royal Black is often referred to as the senior of the loyal orders. In Northern Ireland it holds a very
colourful annual parade in the village of Scarva, County Down on the 13th July [the day after the Orange
Order's 12th July celebrations] and often has as many as 100,000 people in attendance. It is commonly