Gathering, discussion and socialization. Paganism is not an organized religious system. The use of the word dates back to the times of the roman empire when its meaning appears to have been originally akin to countryman or citizen. This was prior to the advent of Christianity. With its arrival, the word took on a derogatory and religious connotation to refer to non Christians or followers of religious systems other than Christianity. Today, in an attempt to self identify and differenciate from abrahamic religious ideologies, many subscribe to the term pagan, either as a way to mean other than the aforementioned, or to imply a return to the old gods and religious systems of pre-Christian cultures. There exist a great ideological diversity among adherents of paganism. There is no generalized consensus or centralization and therefore ideas and practices may and often deffer greatly from individual to individual and from group to group. Not one individual or group defines what paganism is, nor should any individual or group become the basis for stereotype, judgement or reputation for the rest, as every individual and group operates independently from each other, and not always associate with each other due to their differences. Many will not subscribe to the pagan label stating that the giving of names to a religious system does not appear to have been a thing in ancient times, while other won't because they feel a label cannot effectively define all the complexity and variation there is in human thought, and yet others will not subscribe to it because they don't want to be associated with what they consider negative traits they feel have taken over main stream paganism. Paganism is just a wide umbrella term for a diverse group of modern systems, ideologies, philosophies and attitudes that may or may not be religious in nature, and that ranges from those who seek to reconstruct specific cultures from the past, to those who are more open to modern reinvented expressions of these, or something else entirely different. Heathenry, Celtic paganism, Druidry or Druidism, Wicca, traditional witchcraft, and other forms that may or may not subscribe to shamanism and animism are examples of different expressions within this huge umbrella. Even among these specific branches exists a lack of general consensus. Different forms of theism within a religious context may be also present such as polytheism, pantheism, panentheism, henotheism, monolatrism, monism or even monotheism. Some may even subscribe to agnosticism and atheism whether openly or implied.