Well, there actually is kind of an answer, but I probably don't understand your question, especially since there seems to be a kind of mix up. One isn't the other, and as I said, there is no Alpha & Omega on Strength, nor was there ever (as far as I know). I'm really confused, are you asking why two different people used two different symbols for two different purposes? Or are you asking about ordering an numbering, which is a wholly different question...
I would like to answer you, I just have to know what it is exactly that I'm answering...
I'm confusing myself and dragging you down with me, I see.
Okay,
originally, beyond Waite, Justice
should be number 8 and Strength
should be number 11 according to some other thing I have no idea about (Golden Dawn)? Right? Or is that wrong? It seems like something Crowley was pissed about, and needed to set "right"...yes?
I'm wondering now, if it was Waite's misinterpretation of the leminscate for Alpha and Omega, because look -- silly me did it.
I have been thinking that those two symbols are a different interpretation/perspective of the same thing... but you are telling me they are not.
And, my weirdness is kicking in and my brain is trying to make a connection between three cards. The Magician, then either Strength OR Justice, and then the World. My brain is trying to make that connection to show me which one (Strength or Justice) is actually the "right" one as number 11.
Something is there amongst those three cards for me to figure out, per my brain.
My brain is saying, "...therein (those three cards) lies the truth, notice the pattern and figure it out..." but because I've worked pretty exclusively with RWS, it doesn't mean that his way is the 'truth' -- apparently my brain is just noticing a pattern that will prove or disprove him and give me the 'truth'.
I can't figure it out, but it
feels like Strength
should be depicting Alpha and Omega and be number 11, while Justice
should not depict that and while being number 8. But I don't know because I can't decipher the pattern my brain is picking up on.
The RWS was published in 1909, the Thoth was completed during the forties and wasn't published until much later. The two decks really don't have that much connection in terms of back-and-forth between their creators. Crowley had his own agenda while Waite had his, and Waite didn't (and wouldn't) change his deck because of the Thoth, even if he had been in a position to do so by the time it came out.
Okay, gotcha there. Confusion lifted, hallelujah!