ancestor::* and for-each

I use ancestor-or-self::* to obtain the node sequence from some node
to the document root.
The outermost/top element of the document isn't interesting, so I add
a predicate, and I find that this works:
   [position() != last()]
Apparently, the sequence goes from leaf to root, which is the closing
tag order, as it should be.

Then, I iterate over the sequence, and now the nodes are processed
from root to leaf, which is strange.

There is a Note in Chapter 7, Repetion, that sounds as if it is
related to this, but, frankly, I don't understand it.
What does it mean, in monosyllabic words, please ;-)

I'm using this <xsl:stylesheet version="2.0">, and  saxon9he.jar.

Thanks
-W