Gloria Parker, a longtime fixture in Atlanta’s metaphysical community, passed away on March 2. Her memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on March 30 at Unity North, located at 4255 Sandy Plains Road in Marietta.

Parker’s metaphysical life included starting and owning a bookstore, a magazine and a radio show, as well as producing psychic fairs. Before delving into metaphysics, she was a bartender; in fact, in a 2018 interview with VoyageATL magazine, she claimed she was the first female to tend bar in Atlanta. A series of dreams led her away from bartending to metaphysics. 

In 1989, she founded the Sun Glo bookstore in Atlanta. In 1993, she founded the Aquarius: A Sign of the Times magazine and sold it in 2014. At its height, circulation was 40,000. “How Aquarius got started is quite a story,” said Parker in her VoyageATL interview. “It was brought in from a series of dreams that kept me up at night over a nine-month period.” 

Her radio show, The Psychic Bartender Show, was produced from 2016 to 2021. 

Parker also hosted the Big Psychic Fair every month for 35 years. Anna Banguilan, a friend of many years who has been “tasked” with maintaining Parker’s legacy, says the fair is still being held today, although it’s now called Gloria Parker’s Big Psychic Fair. “The psychic fair will keep her energy in play and keep the community alive,” says Banguilan.

Parker was born on January 31, 1946, to Frank and Nellie Parker. She is survived by her brother, John Horvers, and nieces, Cathy Hoovers, Darlene Mataraza and Mary Merrihew. Parker’s daughter, Jodi, passed away in 2012 at the age of 36.