Numerology and astrology were included in the Romanian Professions Code by decisions of the Ministers of Labor in 1995 and 2023, and these professions are recognized in most European countries, according to the Ministry of Labor. The clarifications come in the context of the Romanian Association of Psychologists asking the government to “urgently” re-examine “anti-scientific” professions in the Professional Code, such as those related to astrology or numerology. In addition, Daniel David, Rector of Babes-Bogliai University in Cluj-Napoca, said that Romania is “in a very dangerous moment, when the Ministry of Labor is putting on the market all kinds of professions that are in the field of obscurantism”: “What do you really want from the country , which deals with astrologers and numerologists?”.

The Ministry of Labor issued the clarification on Monday, “taking into account some discussions in the public space related to the professions of numerologist and astrologer from the Code of Professions of Romania (COR)”.

According to the Ministry of Labour, the profession of astrologer was regulated in the Kingdom in 1995 by an order of the Minister of Labor and the President of the National Statistics Commission published in the Official Gazette in November 1995. The profession of numerologist was introduced in the COR by order of the Minister of Labor and the President of the National Institute of Statistics in January 2023, “based on the documentation submitted by the Association of Numerologists from Romania with the approval of the National Association of Industry Committees from Romania”. “At that time, the draft regulation passed the decision-making transparency procedure and no comments were received regarding the introduction of this profession,” the Ministry of Labor states.

The institution also claims that the professions of astrologer and numerologist are recognized in most EU countries and are contained in the International Standard Classification of Professions – ISCO 08 and in the European Classification of European Skills, Competences and Professions (ESCO) in one group: Astrologers, fortune-tellers, etc., namely:

• astrologer, ESCO code 5161.1;
• numerologist occurs as an occupation that can be found among examples of occupations that can be classified in the same group 5161 Astrologers, soothsayers and similar.

“Warning about the explosive impact of unscientific practices in psychology/psychotherapy and health”

The clarifications come in a context in which the Romanian Association of Psychologists asked the government to “urgently” re-analyze “non-scientific” professions in the Professional Code, such as those related to astrology or numerology, publishing “a warning about the explosion of the impact of non-scientific practices in psychology /psychotherapy and health”.

In November, the Association of Psychologists of Romania (APR) expressed concern about the alarming growth of so-called “specialists” and “therapists” without any professional training in the field or at most graduates of some courses or so-called “academies”. “:

• “The Association of Psychologists of Romania (APR) notes with concern the impressive growth of non-scientific practices in this field, especially the influence of pseudoscience (fraudulent approaches imitating science) and non-science (fraudulent approaches, alternative sciences), especially in the field of “clinical-psychotherapeutic”, with the influence on people’s health. According to the law, practicing the profession of psychologist (including psychotherapy) by persons who do not have this qualification is a crime and is punishable according to the Criminal Code. (…)
• State authorities have recently approved a number of professions in which, without the necessary training, the psychologist profession or its skills are hidden (for example, the new profession of “marriage counselor” versus the psychological specializations of “counseling/couple psychotherapy”). ).
• Sometimes this is done in a very loose framework (eg licensed person, condensed training, etc.) where there is no professional control.
• The Romanian government and parliament should urgently re-examine these occupations, and APR demonstrates its willingness to cooperate constructively in this matter in accordance with good international practice in this field.-
• The state has approved a number of professions, which in the civilized world are part of non-scientific areas (for example, astrology or numerology), which are then disguised as a number of “therapies”. And here sometimes “therapy” is carried out in extremely free conditions (for example, an authorized individual), where there is no professional control. The Romanian government and parliament should urgently re-analyze these occupations.”

“What do you really want from a country whose profession is astrologer and numerologist?”

And Daniel David, rector of Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, sharply criticized the decision of the Ministry of Labor to consider numerologist or astrologer as legally recognized “professions”, a decision he called a “hallucination”.

• “We are in a very dangerous moment, when the Ministry of Labor is bringing to the market all kinds of professions that belong to the sphere of obscurantism. The Psychological Association came out and said, I said. It wasn’t easy because the response was, as you can imagine, moderate from those I criticized.
• I have not seen any serious movement in the media space, but if we did, maybe ten or twenty universities, the Romanian Academy would also come with a position, and we would rise, people, do you understand that what you are doing is hallucination?
• What do you really want from a country whose profession is astrologer and numerologist? I mean, why are we surprised by these results (PISA results are not)? Let me ask another way: do you understand that in our country there is a state-recognized profession of numerologist and astrologer? Why are we surprised that we have these social realities: PISA results, nostalgia for communism, social polarizations, economic polarizations… This is the country!” said Daniel David on December 16 on Digi 24.

He said that scientists should go out into the public space and that he does not leave the public stage “to the scumbags”. (Photo: Dreamstime.com)