I was thinking that, but we need belt of battle to pull this off. Of course, I think that explains where the original author got his numbers from.
He was useing incarnum focus (waist) which increases the essentia by one. So we have 4 base, two for totemist, 1 for incarnum focus, and one from expanded soulmeld capacity. He's useing totem chakra bind (double bind) to bind the manticore belt to both waist and totem chakra. That gives him 8 essentia, and then totem embodiement to double it for 16 attacks.
I like 7 attacks and belt of battle more =)
Maybe get your gm to let you have a ring of battle instead of belt of battle... or combine belt of battle with the incarnum focus. That would net you 32 attacks.