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What did people believe could happen to a person when an individual totem was harmed?

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totem fish mask — Totemism Totem fish mask from the Orokolo Bay area of New Guinea. Painted bark cloth over rattan frame with fringe of dried grass. Height 1.63 m.

In the context of individual totemism, there is a belief in a mutual, close bond of life and fate between a person and their totem, such as an animal or natural object. Because of this simultaneous existence, it was believed that if the totem were harmed, injured, or killed, the exact same fate would automatically befall the person associated with it.12

This connection is so profound that the individual and the totem are often viewed as sharing a single life force. For example, among the Wiradjuri, a medicine man identifies himself with his personal totem, and any injury or offense committed against the totem has an automatic, corresponding effect on the man himself. Consequently, such totems were strictly protected and subject to strong taboos, as harming the totem was essentially considered an act of self-harm or an attack on one's own flesh.21