gregory
Actually most beginners we see here seem to be pulling cards from whatever deck and looking up the meanings in the LWB. (Not to mention pulling cards from a Thothy deck and using Thirteen's most excellent meanings, which gets - odd.)Surely a beginner would look around and see other decks replete with symbolism, ponder their lone feather and rib bone on a beige background and wonder whether this really is the deck for them... If someone's first deck was a largely empty one - however profundly done - really? That really would be very difficult for most people. I would have thought that most beginners would want something they can point at and interpret.
So - no, I can't agree there. I think they tend to move upwards from that, and when someone says something like "the pomegranates on Empress suggest...." THEN they start to want to have more to point at. Before that point, I think even having a Waite-Smith deck, they would still see EMPRESS at the bottom and not notice the pomegranates or the stars. They may notice the belly, given that EVERYONE KNOWS Empress ALWAYS means pregnancy. But....
So honestly, I think the LWB is far more of a THING for beginners than what they can SEE.