diff --git a/src/settings.c b/src/settings.c
index c424ca291953c79d30df440a9c6e3e9d3cb39036..32db35c1924ae362516bcdf38b7727b231541c5d 100644
--- a/src/settings.c
+++ b/src/settings.c
@@ -903,13 +903,13 @@ loadTheme (ScreenInfo *screen_info, Settings *rc)
     parseRc (THEMERC, theme, rc);
 
     screen_info->params->shadow_delta_x = 
-        abs (TOINT (getValue ("shadow_delta_x", rc)));
+        - (TOINT (getValue ("shadow_delta_x", rc)));
     screen_info->params->shadow_delta_y = 
-        abs (TOINT (getValue ("shadow_delta_y", rc)));
+        - (TOINT (getValue ("shadow_delta_y", rc)));
     screen_info->params->shadow_delta_width = 
-        abs (TOINT (getValue ("shadow_delta_width", rc)));
+        - (TOINT (getValue ("shadow_delta_width", rc)));
     screen_info->params->shadow_delta_height = 
-        abs (TOINT (getValue ("shadow_delta_height", rc)));
+        - (TOINT (getValue ("shadow_delta_height", rc)));
 
     for (i = 0; i < XPM_COLOR_SYMBOL_SIZE; i++)
     {