The lunar totem adds to your away bonus. If you activate a totem with a 100% away bonus, that will be added to your normal away bonus, so you get 2 times the regular amount of away bonus.
In most cases, it is useless for players with high Earnings Bonus. In fact, running chickens for two minutes will give the same effect of a Tier 4 Lunar Totem for 8 hours. However, it can be quite useful for early game if you are struggling to make bocks and depend on offline income.
Finally, players on the Enlightenment Egg may find it useful to activate the lunar totem, because money on that egg is very hard to make.