The terminology here gets a little wiggy, so while I usually hate starting out with definitions, let's talk about distinctions:

Esoteric means "limited to a small circle," i.e. knowledge which is not widely available or is only available to a limited group. It isn't necessarily magical or religious knowledge; a family spaghetti recipe is esoteric knowledge. But in 19th century Europe, efforts to codify human knowledge led to the idea of esotericism as secret knowledge which had been passed down through certain traditions or groups, and was counterpoised against the then nearly universal religion of Christianity (in all of its sects and delineations). A particular popularizer of this idea was Eliphas Lévi, and under his influence esotericism and occultism became nearly synonymous.

Ceremonial magic is any ritual or action designed to achieve a supernatural effect; in that definition, it is effectively indistinguishable from any religious service or rite, such as Christian mass, baptism, or exorcism. While "esotericism" has a relatively late definition, distinctions between what counts as a regular religious rite and "magic" goes back to at least Antiquity; accusations of maleficium and heresy often dovetailed in medieval trials, such as those of the Knights Templar (1307-1314).

A good deal of ceremonial magic is inherently esoteric in the sense that it is confined to a limited group; the tradition of transmission might be oral (one person to another), via a text, or both. In the 19th and 20th centuries, Lévi and his contemporaries were interested in both forms of transmission to different extents, as by the late 19th century many of the oral traditions in Europe were extinct, but there were textual transmission in the form of grimoires - and these books and manuscripts traced back traditions of ceremonial magic in Europe, some from the modern period (The Book of Abramelin is c.17th century) going back to the Renaissance and Middle Ages.

The idea of written magic goes back much further than that, pretty much as far back as humans have writing. But again, there's that distinction between magic and religion; one person's True Faith is another person's heresy. Much of the Western grimoire tradition that Lévi & co. were interested in was specifically looking at supernatural activities outside the context of official Church rituals, but it was still largely operating within the broader context of Christian theology and cosmology.

Judaism offered one particular parallel avenue of exploration for those interested in ceremonial magic in this context: it was closely related to the Christian tradition, but esoteric in the sense that Jews don't really proselytize and often maintain their own traditions and language. The medieval Jewish mystical system of Kabbalah became incorporated into the Western grimoire tradition, and was a strong influence on Lévi & co. Similarly, Islam offered another body of lore to borrow from, and works like the Picatrix were heavily influential on the tradition of written magic in Europe.

So you can sort of begin to see that this was not a single monolithic body of lore coming from a single source; it was a living tradition where the people working within the grimoire tradition were being influenced by other cultures that they had access to. That in itself is nothing new: there's been contact with cultures around the Mediterranean going back into antiquity.

The grimoire tradition received a substantial boost in interest during the Renaissance with the publication of the Corpus Hermeticum, which were based on esoteric Greco-Egyptian texts from the 2nd century CE. A distinction should be made here: during the first couple centuries of its existence, Christianity was one sect among many, some of which shared common influences in the form of Neoplatonism, Jewish and Zoraoastrian cosmology, etc. It was around the time when you get Gnostic sects and Manichaeism. When you read about the parable of Simon Magus in the Acts of the Apostles, that's the kind of background we're looking at.

By 19th century standards, Lévi & co. would consider these as some of the forebears of esotericism - but the reality was much more complex. The groups involved weren't necessarily secret or exclusive, and their religious ceremonies weren't necessarily any more "magical" in intent or function than equivalent Christian rites. They were much more concerned with spirituality, theology, cosmology, and philosophy than curses or summoning spirits.

At the same time all this religious cross-pollination and struggle between sects was going on, there was also an exchange in material which we would recognize as magical writing in a sense similar to the later, more well-defined grimoire tradition. These are exemplified today by the collection known as the Greek Magical Papyri, which are a collection of manuscripts in Greek, Demotic, and Coptic from about 100BCE through 400 CE. When you read in the Acts of the Apostles about burning magic books, this is the kind of stuff thrown in the fire, and like the later grimoires they're collections of formulae, prayers, charms, etc. - and a truly international collection, with a syncretism of Greek, Egyptian, and Jewish religion.

Which is a very long way to say: the history of ceremonial magic goes back into antiquity, and bits and pieces of it are almost certainly older. The SATOR magical square and the ABRACADABRA charm, for example, are enduring bits of magic which have had many different uses and interpretations, but have hung on for centuries...but never as part of a continuous tradition.

But "a continuous traditon" is exactly what Lévi & co. wanted. They wanted a secret knowledge to have been communicated down the centuries in an esoteric tradition outside of normal Christianity. Which is why groups and movements that so popularized cermonial magic in the late 19th and 20th century such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and Wicca specifically emphasized their claims to some legitimate authority - to be the living inheritors of an ancient tradition - a practice they were helped with by the European scholarly tendency to rely on textual authorities. The Book of Abramelin mentioned earlier claims a spurious connection to the Hermetic tradition; and that book itself was translated by Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, the founder of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and formed a basis for some of their ceremonial magic.

As for the other bit...

I was watchimg netlfix' midnight gospel and Damien Echols said that their true roots can be found in what is now present day Iraq and were brought to Europe by the Knights templar?

The highly technical historical term for this kind of claim is "horseshit." Damian Echols is not a historian; as a teenager he was convicted of murder alongside two other teenagers ("The West Memphis Three") with allegations that it was part of a Satanic sacrifice; he was sentenced to death but the sentence was later commuted due to new evidence and a plea bargain. Whether or not you believe his guilt or innocence, he's parlayed his infamy and experience into gigs as a ceremonial magician.

You'll notice I mentioned the Knights Templar before; they were an esoteric order who received a very public trial with fairly wild allegations regarding their supposed heresies and sorceries - and they have since been co-opted by many different interests as precursor organizations to various contemporary groups like the Freemasons. However, there is no actual historical evidence that the Knights Templar were engaged in ceremonial magick; only the allegations of heresy at their trial.